The immanent birth of the six-billionth person in the world, currently estimated to happen on 12 October 1999, has the population controllers in a frenzy. They are putting out a lot of “gloom and doom” propaganda to convince people that the world is overcrowded and does not have the resources to support that number of people. In short, they are abusing this happy event of the birth of a baby to press for more population control.
One example of this kind of unfortunate writing is an article published by the Associated Press (AP) in mid-August which decried the fact that India has become the second country, after China, to attain the billion population mark [Tom Rachman, “India’s Population Moves Toward 1 Billion Unhappily,” AP, 18 Aug 1999).
The AP story presented India’s population milestone, typically, as a shameful event. The writer said that while India’s population has tripled since 1947, the “ravages of poverty, ignorance and malnutrition have grown harder to tackle.” The facts, however, do not bear this out.
Consider, for example, that in 1971 with a population of less than three quarters of a billion people, India’s per capita income was about $150 (The World Almanac Book of Facts, 1998). Today it is $1,600 [World Factbook, Central Intelligence Agency), more than ten times higher. This means that even though there are about 250 million more people in India today than 20 years ago, the average person is making 10 times more than he did then.
That’s real progress! In 1983, the Indian Gross National Product was $190 billion, while in 1997 the Gross Domestic Product was $1.534 trillion. By this measure, the Indian economy has experienced four times the growth of the U.S. economy! Economic reform’s introduced in 1991 (which moved India away from central planning) helped the economy to develop authentically; attracted foreign investment, and contributed to making new opportunities for Indian businesses and 300 million middle class consumers (Encarta Encyclopedia, 1999). This could hardly be called unhappy news.
Another measure of Indian progress is life expectancy. An Indian male born in 1981 could expect to live to age 52, while his sister could expect to live to age 50. By contrast, a male born in 1998 will probably live more than 62 years while his sister can expect to live over a year longer. These statistics refer only to those babies who lived.
In 1985, out of every 1,000 babies born, 101 died. By 1998, this rate was reduced to about 63 of 1,000 babies who died at birth. Literacy in India also has increased substantially. When India achieved independence in 1947, about 16 percent could read and write. The literacy rate grew to 36 percent of the population in 1981; and by 1995, that figure was 52 percent (The World Almanac Book of Facts, 1998; World Factbook, Central Intelligence Agency; Encarta Encyclopedia, 1999). Those, too, are impressive gains.
With an area of 1,266,595 square miles. India has a population density of about 790 people per square mile. Let’s illustrate what this means in real terms. There are 27,878,400 square feet in a square mile. This population density allows each Indian over 35,289 square feet of space. A family of 5 would thus have over 4 acres of space to live on. I don’t think the average American would be unhappy with that much elbowroom.
By all accounts, India is a country that is growing, not only in terms of population but also in terms of authentic economic development. The people are living under progressively better economic, social, and health conditions. Population growth is contributing to that development. Certainly, there are some very crowded cities in India. But almost three-quarters of India’s people live in the rural countryside.
India certainly has challenges, but “overpopulation” even in India is a myth.
Population controllers would have us believe that there are too many people in the world. But even India demonstrates that this is just not true. India demonstrates that the benefits of population are demographic and societal gain.
The population controllers have another agenda. Advancing a claim of “over-population” simply covers an implicit racism behind a mask of “progressivism.” The rest of us should celebrate the good fortune of the Indian people.
Chet Lewandowski is Regional Coordinator for Human life International
