One major problem that faces the world today is the rapid growth of population, often referred to as population explosion. Until about 800 AD the world’s population stayed below 200 million. Since then it has risen dramatically.The rise has been greatest in the 20th century. The population has recently risen to about six billion: it is three times as large as it was in 1960. It is not so much the actual population as its rate of increase that is alarming. Experts predict that by 2020 there will be about ten billion people, causing serious problems of hunger, overcrowding and environmental pollution.

This enormous increase of population is due to better food, better hygiene and, above all, the advances made in medicine. Rapid developments in modern medicine have conquered many diseases and consequently the death rate has decreased. Until the beginning of the 19th century most people died before the age of 50.Today in developed countries the average lifespan has risen to more than 70 years.As the world population continues to grow geometrically, great pressure is being placed on arable land, water, energy, and biological resources to provide an adequate supply of food while maintaining the integrity of our ecosystem.

With a population of over one billion, India is the second most populous country in the world.India’s population has risen drastically since 1950:the opulation today is two and a half times as large as i was in 1950. It is rising by 2.9 percent per year. The government is taking measures to check the population growth and a large percentage of people practise birth control. Recent advances in farming have made the country productive enough to feed the present population. Failure to arrest further percentage of population may have disastrous effects, though there seems to be some truth in the statement made by Julian Simon,”Although population growth means there will be more mouths to feed, there will be more hands to work and more bains to think.”

Concerns that the rapidly growing population would adversely affect economic growth and living standards caused India to implement an official family planning program in the late 1950s and early 1960s; it was the first country in the world to do so.

There are many different views on what solutions are best for action today. However, it is agreed upon for the most part among researchers and environmental groups that some action does need to take place. Because it is not reasonable to increase the death rate in order to control population, it leaves us with only one choice: decrease the world’s birth rate. The amount of action we take will determine exactly how much we decrease the fertility rate and therefore where our population is headed . Whether this is done through education about birth control methods or the use of technology to determine new ways to use the resources we have left, we need to start today so that there will continue to be a habitable planet tomorrow.