Recommended Motions

● Common causes for population growth

● Positive effects of population growth

● Negative effects of population growth

● Measures taken to prevent population growth

● Actions that have been taken by countries to prevent population growth

● How is the standard of living correlated to population growth?

● How is agricultural development affected by population growth?

● How is the environment affected by population growth?

● How has immigration been affected by population growth

● How has the growing population brought changes in social values and beliefs

GSL

The United Kingdom has always been near the heart of many of the world’s political activities. In the
UK, generally being a wealthy country throughout recent history, it goes without saying there’s a
myriad of job opportunities; and with increasing job opportunities comes an increasing per capita
income. Essentially the average income of a country’s individuals.

Of course, individual economic prosperity is great news for a government. However, this comes at a
cost for fertility rates. It’s been observed that – not specific to the UK – the more affluent a family or
a person is, the less interested they are in expanding their family. Thus, fertility rates in the UK have
decreased steadily in the past century; from approximately 3 or 4 children in the 1920’s, to 1 or 2
children in 2020.

Inspite of this, the UK isn’t heavily bothered about the decreasing fertility rates in their country as
other problems have arisen. Migrants, as a relevant example. Migrants have absolutely bombarded
the UK, not literally, in the past few decades, as do all migrants when there are job opportunities in a
wealthy country. However, these migrants generally come for higher education or for a scholarly job
such as an engineer. Both these scenarios require money, and a substantial educational background;
which aren’t super attainable for people in poverty.

All in all, the UK may not be battling with internal population crises, but they’re certainly struggling
with the exponential growth of the outside world, as is everyone really.

Common causes for population growth:

Migration to the UK has driven population growth since around the 1990’s. While the fertility rates
are going down, the population needn’t be. So many prospectors from all around the world travel to
the UK for job opportunities. The UK parliament estimates an average of 200,000 migrants annually.
That’s a pretty respectable number, and in a geographically smaller country, it’s clear a good
percentage of the residents are migrants.

The most common jobs worked by migrants in the UK are teachers, IT specialists and doctors/nurses.
Evidently, migrants must have solid educational backgrounds before coming to the UK for these
types of scholarly jobs. There are a multitude of causes for population growth, as it is a westernized
country after all, thus comforts and benefits they may not have otherwise. These comforts often
lead to better health for their citizens, thus longer life expectancies and a larger lasting population.

Positive effects of population growth:

The UK is notorious for their unexpected tax cuts to aid people in poverty who may not be able to
provide that much in tax. The newly elected UK prime minister, Liz Truss, has – you may have heard
about – cut tax amounts quite drastically and as a result, uncomfortably shifted the economy, and
now they’re in 8.2 billion pounds of debt which is equivalent to approximately 9.3 billion dollars. Say,
a person comes to the UK and begins to work a job with some amount of salary, this person will now
have to pay some amount of income tax.

Thus, the government earns more, thus services can be properly invested into by the government,
thus people earn more as company’s quality and assets increase. Mind you, these are all effects on
countries with comparatively smaller populations. So, as people earn more, there may not be a
necessity for as many tax cuts, hence, because of this population increase, the UK will be in less
debt.

Negative effects of population growth:

The UK isn’t exactly spacious, in terms of geography. Despite knowing this, the UK continues to cram
higher and higher skyscrapers into their cities, and more and more houses in other areas. While
certainly taking measures to restrict the audacious amount of people entering their country, it’s
difficult to manage them all. If it weren’t for population increase, their economy won’t thrive. This is
the case with all countries, actually.

So, the leading problem with a population increase is the lack of housing. Always a small population,
the UK has used much of their surface area for independent houses. Obviously they can’t demolish
and reconstruct higher apartments in their places, so they have to search for areas to build
apartments and other modern housing elsewhere. The UK also contains a lot of free land in rural
areas, however migrants and most young people prefer living in cities, where they are connected to
people, and can easily be transported to and from their academic type jobs. So, once again the
problem of housing in such dense areas, arises.

Measures taken to prevent population growth:

Although migration is a huge source of yearly population increase in the UK, actual citizens of the UK
are still the driving factor in population increase. Because of this, the UK commits to decreasing
population growth in a humane manner towards their citizens. They advocate for birth control
regularly, and show understanding towards women in poverty who may not have the privilege to
purchase these contraceptives. Birth control services are extending and abortions before reaching 24
weeks are legal.

Continuing on to the immense migration, this is often handled by the mandate that all
immigrants/migrants must request permission and give a reason for entering the UK. They must
have at least one job offer accepted or requested to the immigrant by an approved employer. Other
factors including speaking English are not compulsory, however they do grant you extra points when
applying for a work visa of some sort.

Actions that have to be taken by countries to prevent population growth:

A reason often not equated with an increase in population, is poverty. The sad truth is that, while it
may be surprising to people with higher incomes who are well educated, women in poverty aren’t as
well educated. Hence, they might not go on contraceptives or not have their partner go on
contraceptives when engaging in any sexual activity. In many countries, birth controls are
inaccessible and/or over-priced.

Not just women, but everyone should be equally educated on the importance of birth controls. This
is not just the citizen’s responsibility but also the government’s. Governments should provide
contraceptives that are available and accessible to people of any tax bracket. Because lower income
people tend to have more children, governments can control their populations by providing good job
opportunities for them and supporting them in tasks such as the provision of food or water.

How is the standard of living correlated to population growth?

The standard of living is generally defined as the quality of comfort and conveniences in an average
person’s daily life. So, when there is an especially rapid increase in population growth, it’s difficult to
keep up and maintain a good standard of living for everyone. This can be explained with the example
of a large bucket. Imagine a bucket filled with some amount of water at 7am; the water workers who
fill up the bucket only come at 9am. The bucket’s tap is turned on, and by 8am it is completely
emptied out before it was filled back up.

The bucket in this scenario represents the resources and money a country has to provide a certain
standard of living. The water represents the distribution of these resources, a.k.a the salaries of the
country’s individuals which they use to purchase things. This metaphorical bucket, empties out
before someone can fill it back up, thus, with the rapid increase in population; resources, money and
job opportunities are often dried out before somebody (a.k.a the government) comes to “fill it back
up”.

How is agricultural development affected by population growth?

The UK is already facing a housing crisis. Because of this, much of the rural lands may start to fill up
with buildings to make space for cities and homes. However, this comes at a cost for agriculture. If
more and more people come to the UK, more and more homes are required, so more and more land
is required. This is ironic because the UK needs this land to cultivate enough food for their increasing
population.

Here we see two dilemmas, people won’t have enough areas to live without consuming more and
more of the land, but people won’t have enough food without producing an abundant amount of
crops which they must harvest on that very same land. The UK is wealthy enough to import
vegetables, fruits and other foods from other countries, however their agricultural growth most
likely will soon become stunted if this population growth trend continues.

How is the environment affected by population growth?

The intense increase in population has greatly effected the UK. A charity called the Optimum
Population Trust, claimed that Britain’s best bet to maintain some amount of environmental
sustainability, is decrease the population by around 30 million. Evidently this isn’t near any humane
measures the government can take. But how exactly did it get so bad? The amount of electricity
generated daily is uncountable, nonetheless coal, gas and car emissions throughout the year.

Residents of the UK have a comparatively posh standard of living compared with third world
countries. Yet, they still rely on a lot of coal to generate electricity. More than 90% of their cars run
on fossil fuels. And, there is an immense amount of water wastage as their plumbing/water system
is riddled with leaks and faucets in their pipes. The environment continues to quietly grow worse,
but luckily citizens of the UK are waking up to the horrors and spreading awareness to at least try
and live more sustainably.

How has immigration been affected by population growth?

While immigration has not been effected by population growth in the UK. The immigrants
themselves have. Europe as a whole does not tolerate illegal immigrants to enter their country,
nevertheless legal immigrants who also have a very hard time entering. The UK has a standard
procedure that mandates migrants must request permission and give a reason for entering the UK.

They must have at least one job offer accepted or requested to said migrant by an approved
employer. Other factors including speaking English are not compulsory, however they do grant you
extra points when applying for a visa. If they are travelling for a higher education, they must state
which institute they will be attending and for what reasons. All this information will then be verified
with their employer/school. All these rules and regulations make it seemingly difficult for
underprivileged non-British people to have an opportunity at a life in the UK.

How has the growing population brought changes in social values and beliefs?

As the population in the UK changes year after year, so do the social values and norms. With the rise
of social media, the residents of the UK are liberal and left winged in majority. They are, have been
and remain a westernized country with westernized values. As more people are brought to the UK
and begin a life there, these people are influenced by these western values and thus the chain will
continue to their next generations.

A growing population means the liberal and accepting mindset is spreading and influencing more
and more people. This is a great news as this will lead to more equality practiced by the UK’s future
leaders. That influence affects the mindset of everyone entering the UK and it helps spread
awareness on topics like poverty, climate change and discrimination.