POPULATION-RESOURCE RELATIONSHIP

BY THE END OF THIS SUB-TOPIC, LEARNERS SHOULD BE ABLE T

1. Discuss optimum population, overpopulation, under-population.

2. Explain population-resource relationships using relevant theorie

3. Explain the relationship between population density and resourc

Introduction
 The size of population that can be adequately provided for or

supported by a given country or territory depends on a balance

between the resources, the population and the level of economic
development.

Fig 8.3.1 The relationship between population

and income

 Fig 8.3.1 summarises the relationship between population and per

capita income.
  Some Developing Countries with low levels of technological
development, limited human resources development and plenty of
untapped natural resources experience relative overpopulation.

 The highest level of productivity and the best incomes and living
standards would be achieved with an optimum population.

 A reduction or an increase in the population will result in a gradual

reduction in productivity and falling living standards until the living
standards are
poor.                                                                                                  
                                   

Overpopulation
 This is where the population of a country, province, district or city

is greater than its resources can support.

 Overpopulation can be viewed as relative to the level of

technological or economic development and a country’s resource
endowment.

 That is a situation where the total population of a country or region

is too large relative to the resources and the level of technological
advancement for it to realise high productivity so that the people
enjoy high standards of living.

 The number of people would have become too large for it to

support them adequately to enjoy high standards of living.

 Overpopulation in that context is relative in as far as improvements

in investment, technology and human capital could result in
increased productivity and higher standards of living.

 An example of an African country that is relatively overpopulated is

Somalia.
  Absolute overpopulation on the other hand could be viewed as
catastrophic.

 It is a much more complex challenge than relative overpopulation.

 An equilibrium situation between natural, human and technological

resources may be much more difficult to achieve.

 That is because to achieve a balance between the natural,

technological and human resources, it may be necessary to export
some of the human capital.

 However the people may not be willing to migrate.

 On the other hand the excess human capital may not be marketable
or needed elsewhere.

 The excess human capital may not meet the human resources
requirements of other countries.

Consequences and signs of overpopulation

 Overpopulation may manifest itself in different ways including but

not exclusively the following ways:

 Shortage of transport to and from work.

 High unemployment rates.

 Shortage of accommodation in urban areas.

 Slums in urban areas

 Spillage of sewage due to overloading of the system

 Shortage of land for farming

 Land fragmentation in rural areas.

 Shortage of pastures for livestock.

 Overstocking and soil erosion.

 Deforestation.

 Desertification.

 Shortage of food and famine.

 Houses/Farms encroaching on land that would otherwise not be

used for settlement or cultivation such as vleis, and stream banks,
for example.

 Failure to collect garbage resulting in land and water pollution.

 Very low wages and salaries.

 People migrate out of the country.

 A typical example of overpopulation resulting in shortage of

transport in India is shown in Fig 8.3.2.
Fig 8.3.2

People ride on top of train due to shortage of transport in India

Under-population
 Under-population is not strictly the opposite of overpopulation.

 Absolute under-population is a situation where the population of a

country or region is much smaller than would be required to fully
develop and utilise its natural resources.

 Relative under-population on the other hand is said to exist where

a country can support many more people without compromising
living standards.

 For that reason Canada which has a very high standard of living is
classified as under populated in that it can support a larger
population without compromising its high living standards.
  Actual under-population is said to occur where the population of a
country is too low for it to fully develop and utilise its natural
resources.

 With under-population the citizens of the country do not enjoy high

standards of living because there are too few people to fully and
efficiently develop and utilise its natural resources.

 Resources will be high relative to the population.

 Incomes are low so that there are limited or no savings for further
investment and economic development.

 Returns from the exploitation of the country’s resources are

minimal because the population is lower than the minimum
threshold required for utilising the resources and achieve the best
returns.

 There is no pressure on transport, accommodation and other

amenities.

 In fact there is underutilisation of amenities such as electricity and

urban water supplies.

 Employment opportunities will be high resulting in low crime rates.

 Exports will be lower than the potential for the country due to
reduced productivity.

 Optimum population
 An optimum population is said to exist where the number of people

in a country is such that it enables it to fully develop and utilise its

resources.

 Per capita output is highest when people in a country are fully

utilising the country’s resources.
  Optimum population enables the country to realise the highest
possible returns from its human resource capital.

 Optimum population will depend on the level of technological

development.

 It could therefore change over time.

 Unemployment rates are low or labour could be fully employed.

 Living standards are high. These standards are influenced by the

interaction between resources. The standard of living can be
expressed as:

 Standard of living
= Natural resources×TechnologyPopulation

 There is no pressure on amenities and services.

 Savings are made, making capital readily available.

Fig 8.3.3

Optimum population

 Fig 8.3.3 illustrates a balance between a population and the

available resources. The situation is termed Optimum Population.

 In a situation of optimum population, companies make profit and

can expand their operations. Wages and salaries are high.

 Goods and services are affordable so that the people enjoy high
standards of living.

 This is the most ideal situation that can be achieved through

investment, research and development.
 The relationship between population density and resources
 Land is a resource that is used to produce food for the people and

raw materials for industry.

 Areas that have fertile soil, moderate to high temperatures and

precipitation attract settlement.

 Fertile volcanic soils are associated with high population densities

in Rwanda and Burundi.

 Fertile alluvial soils are also associated with high population

densities along the Nile Valley in Egypt.
Fig 8.3.4

Population density and distribution in Africa

 Note that the Ethiopian Highlands close to the Horn of Africa have a
very high population density.

 West Africa also has very high population densities, particularly in

Nigeria.
 Deserts such as the Sahara in North Africa and the Namib and the
Kalahari in Southern Africa experience a dearth of moisture that
makes them unattractive to settlement.

 They are therefore characterised by sparse populations where there

are mineral resources and are completely uninhabited in most
areas.

 Mining is the only economic activity that has attracted human

populations to inhospitable environments where temperatures are
either too low or too high for human habitation.

 The settlements are often abandoned leaving them as ghost

settlements or towns when the mineral resource that resulted in
their development is exhausted.

 Elizabeth Bay, Kolmaskop and Pomona are ghost towns in Namibia.

 They were abandoned after the diamonds that were being mined
there were exhausted.

 Hashima Island is a ghost town in Japan which was abandoned in

1974 after being operational since 1887. In 1959 it was the most
densely populated part of the world at 83 500 people per square
kilometre. It is now a ghost town after being deserted in 1974 when
the coal mines were closed.

 Wittenoom is another ghost town in Western Australia. It is a former

asbestos mining town which operated in the 1950 and 1960s. It
was shut down in 1966 due to concerns that the type of asbestos
(crocidolite) that they mined was poisonous. The people were
gradually relocated for health reasons such that it is now a ghost
town.
  Urban centres attract investment in manufacturing, processing and
service industries as well as research and development. That creates
employment which attracts population.

Labour is attracted to these centres of commerce and

industry from other parts of the country and in even beyond
its borders. The concentration of population results in very
high population densities.

 Examples of population densities of other areas of commerce,

industry elsewhere and administration elsewhere are given on Table
1.

Fig 8.3.5

Ha
shima Island ghost town in Japan
Table 1: The Four Most Densely Populated Cities in World in 2017

Thomas Malthus and Esther Boserup’s Theories

  
Fig 8.3.6

Ma
lthus’ Basic theory

 Thomas Malthus was an English economist and cleric who proposed

a population theory termed the Malthusian Population Theory.
 His theory states that population grows exponentially or
geometrically, which means its growth depends on birth rate. (1; 2;
4; 8; 16; 32 etc.).

 For example, in a family tree the number of the parents is

reproduced in the offspring such that 2 parents after birth give a
population of 4.

  Food, on the other hand, increases in an arithmetic way (1; 2; 3; 4;

5 etc.) since the resources used in food production are finite hence
food production only increases at given points in time.

 According to Thomas Malthus, if the population goes unchecked it

would exceed the available resources and to avoid that situation
there are two types of checks that can control the population
growth and these are Preventive Checks and Positive Checks.

 Preventive checks are those deliberate measures people can take to

avoid population growth.

 Due to his religious beliefs he suggested that people could choose

to resist the desire to marry or reproduce until they are mature
enough to be able to look after a family and he termed that concept
‘Moral restraint’.

 Positive checks are those devastating events that would shorten

people’s life span such as natural disasters, war, famine, diseases
and poor living conditions.

 These positive checks, according to him, would bring what he

termed ‘Malthusian catastrophe’ which would bring back a
population to a basic survival.

 Fig 8.3.6 shows the relationship between population growth and

food supply.
  The red line shows population growth which reaches a point when it
exceeds the available resources and the point where the line
intersects or crosses the black line, which is the resources graph, is
a point of crisis from where the checks are needed to control the
population.

Boserup’s Theory
 Esther Boserup was a Danish economist and she mainly dealt with

agricultural economics.

 Unlike Malthus who concluded that the human population is limited

by resources, she suggested that food production can always be
increased to match the existing population.

 Boserup was of the view that the greater the number of people, the
greater the motivation of people to improve ways of food
production and there will be more technological inventions meant
for the production of more food.

 In her conclusion she suggested that there is no limit to human

population growth and that humans are capable of dealing with
problems of resources.