Why Population Matters: An Introduction

Population growth around the world affects Americans through its impact on the economy, the environment, and safety and health, and the habitability of the world our children will inherit. While tracing cause and effect is difficult the evidence is accumulating that current rates of population growth pose significant and interacting risks to human well-being and are a legitimate concern for Americans.

Demographic arguments are not the only reasons to support U.S. assistance to programs that help slow population growth in developing countries. Family planning and related health services, expanded education for girls, and increased economic opportunities for women also directly improve the lives of women and families. However, at a time when U.S. international involvement is increasingly under question, it is important to clarify all the reasons it is in our interest to support international population and family planning programs. The impacts of population depend not just on the rate of growth but on the size and age structure of the existing population, the relationship between this population and such natural resources as water and cropland, and the adaptability of the societies in which population growth is occurring. Where natural resources are abundant and population density is low - as was the case with the United States in the 19th century - population growth can be a dynamic force that spurs technological innovation, industrial development and new political and social institutions.

Where megacities approach unprecedented population sizes of 15 million or 20 million while plummeting water tables threaten the stability of buildings - as is the case currently with Mexico City - the impact of additional population growth may be far more severe. In our lifetimes, humanity has become a force on the planet that rivals nature. The reasons for this are complex and linked to changes not only in human population but in technology, consumption patterns, unequal distribution of wealth and the choices made by people, businesses and governments.

Research on these issues is far from complete. At some point, however, the cumulative weight of the evidence argues for prudent efforts that will contribute to a stable world population within at least the lifetimes or our children. The need is not to control population growth. Governments cannot control childbearing and attempts to do so have sometimes led to coercive approaches to reproduction that violate human rights. The need is rather to expand the power individuals have over their own lives, especially by enabling them to choose how many children to have and when to have them.