About 12,000 years ago, the total number of people living in the world was about 4 million. In the year 1800 (that is more than 200 years ago), the world population was about 1 billion people.
Currently, the number of people living in the world is over 7.7 billion. That means in the past 2 centuries, the population of people living on planet earth increased by approximately 800%.
This is a staggering explosion in population growth within a 200 years period, compared to preceding years.
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When a human is born into the world, it is usually a moment of celebration. Those cute little humans with bright eyes and irreproachable mien will make a stony heart melt. They are the reason the human race goes on and on.
But that is not where the story ends…actually, that is where the real story begins.
When that beautiful, innocent-looking baby is born, what you have in your hands is a breathing living consumption machine with needs and desires. As that human keeps growing, his/her needs and desires keep growing in size, scope and complexity.
The fulfillment or otherwise and the rate of fulfillment or otherwise of those needs and desires will determine whether such a human lives a happy life or not, whether they become an asset or a liability to their society, and whether the people who birth them end up being fulfilled parents or having loads of sorrows.
While rapid innovations have brought about diverse better options for people in this 21st century, the quality of living for billions of people around the world has actually decreased compared to people who lived in the world with lesser innovative sophisticated options in preceding centuries.
The word ‘suicide’ has never been more familiar than it currently is in the 21st century. So many people around the world plan and execute their own death by their own hands due to the choking limitations frustrating their living.
According to the World Health Organization, more than 700,000 people die by suicide every year. It was further revealed that ‘’for every adult who died by suicide, there may have been more than 20 others attempting suicide.
That means if 700,000 people die by suicide in a year, more than 14 million people also attempted suicide in that same year.
It is very eye-opening to note that 77% of suicides occur in low and middle income countries. Also instructive to note that a huge proportion of the world population are concentrated in low and middle income countries, especially low-income countries.
So what is the wisdom in recklessly birthing children into an overpopulated world that is increasingly more difficult to live in?
As at 1960 when Nigeria gained independence from her British colonialists, total population was about 45 million people. 61 years later (2021), the total number of people living in Nigeria is currently more than 211 million people.
One do not need to wonder why poverty, hunger, insecurity, suicide rate, conflicts and so on are increasing every day in Nigeria. A major answer to that question is already staring everyone in the face.
Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) as a measure of the strength of a country’s currency compared to other countries also reflects people’s living standard in a country in comparison to other countries.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) in 2021 did an estimate of PPP in 188 countries which also revealed how well people are living in such countries.
Out of the 188 countries, these are the first five countries with the highest PPP in their chronological order: 1. Luxembourg 2 Singapore 3. Ireland 4. Qatar 5. Switzerland.
- Luxembourg has the highest PPP in the world, their population is just a little over 600 thousand.
- Singapore has the second highest PPP in the world, their population is about 9 million
- Ireland has the third highest PPP in the world, their population is about 5 million
- Qatar has the fourth highest PPP in the world, their population is about 3 million
Nigeria is number 136 out of 188 countries on the PPP list and her population is over 211 million people.
Population alone does not account for the poor quality of life in a country, but it goes a long way in that accounting.
For the fourth year in a row, Finland has been rated as the country with the happiest people in the world. The total number of people living in Finland is about 5.5 million people.
Poor people are usually the ones who birth more children. I do not understand how a man and his wife with 3 kids would be living in a single room. How could any right-thinking man father 3 children when he could only afford a single room rent?
Even rich parents should be scared of birthing more than 2 humans. The quality of living for a child goes beyond the material comfort you can provide for that child, it also has to do with safety amongst other things.
Nigeria has reached a stage where the rich can no longer rest easy because there are too many frustrated poor people around. For example, you and your child are a goldmine in the hands of kidnappers and armed robbers.
So, instead of having many children due to available sufficient fund, having one or two kids and using the extra fund for human development sponsorship in your sphere of influence could be a better idea. That way, yourself and your children are guaranteed a better chance at peace and safety.
The joke is on the few rich people who think they are living a good life. No! They’re not. Not when they can’t enjoy that money in peace.
The beauty of living is not in the quantity, it is in the quality. It is how well people live that makes them appreciate their existence and develop the enthusiasm to contribute positively to the world they live in.
Otherwise, you have a miserable human being who would either be living in a vegetative state, become a liability/danger to the world or use their very hands to end the life that they had without their own consent.
Nobody owes you gratitude for mere procreation. Nearly everyone with a penis and a vagina can do that. You deserve an applause for birthing humans and giving them wings to fly.
Treat human life with care. Reproduce human life with reverence. The wellbeing of the world and its inhabitants are counting on it to thrive.
The author mentioned all these results and findings, that countries with lower population live better than those with higher population, and the developing countries that have a low quality of life have more kids than developed countries. However, the social, cultural, religious and economic reasons behind this issue were not mentioned. These include high child mortality rates, limited access to education, early marriage and gender roles, religion, care for elders and need for extra labour. If taking account all these factors that contribute to high birth rates in developing countries, I think that fundamental changes are needed, and “Treat human life with care” slogan is not enough in this case.
Thank you Anna for your insightful contribution.
I am aware of the underlying issues behind the subject matter. The purpose of this write-up was not to expatiate those issues.
The intention of the write-up was to let the reader see that birthing more children only complicate their lives rather than make it better.
And you are right – “Treat human life with care” slogan is not enough and will never be.
The purpose was to simplify the message in a way that the reader walks away with one thought – “no matter the motivation to birth more kids, my life won’t be better for it”.
Thank you for your contribution Anna Aleksanyan.
I’m glad someone was paying attention to the details.