The complex relationship between population, poverty and the environment has received substantial attention over recent decades, especially in the context of the simultaneous occurrence of population growth and environmental degeneration. When discussing the linkage between population growth and impact on Environment, the connections that bind human and natural systems are innumerable, but arguably one of the most discussed through human history has been the ever-increasing size of the human population and its relation with the natural resources upon which it depends. Population growth is identified as one of the key indirect drivers of the degradation of these ecosystem services in many countries. Also, high fertility contributes to population growth which increases demands for food and resources from an essentially static resource base; the declining per capita resource base reinforces poverty through soil fertility loss, declining yields, and poor environmental sanitation. Population growth has a direct and indirect impact on poverty and this further leads to ecosystem depletion.
The world population has been increased last few decades which has had an impact on poverty and environmental changes. It is projected to grow from 6.1 billion in 2000 to 8.9 billion in 2050, increasing therefore by 47 per cent. With this increasing growth, especially the high fertility and related demographic variables have been identified as contributing factors to poverty in many different underdeveloped countries. In many developing and transitional economies, fertility increases absolute poverty both by retarding economic growth and by skewing distribution against the poor. Malthus maintained his view that higher fertility would raise the supply of unskilled labour and the demand for food, pushing real wage rates down, and thus increasing poverty through distribution.
Although the rate of population growth is projected to slow down in the early decades of the 21st century, there will still be significant increases in absolute numbers, especially in less developed and poorest countries. Infant mortality in poor households tends to be higher than national averages, meaning that poor families may perceive the need to have more births in order to achieve desired family size. Moreover, due to the lack of knowledge and awareness, women in poor families do not practice preventive methods for unwanted pregnancies. This has been a result of young women from poor households being more likely to marry early and have less education, both of which are associated with higher fertility in most contexts. The high fertility and migration due to lack of economic strength have increased the population in certain countries.
Poverty and the environment are also closely interrelated. Many reports claim that environmental degradation is a major cause of poverty. This is because the poor population is more likely to be dependent on their natural resource and environment as they are lacking the means to fulfil their needs. Whilst people living in poverty are seldom the principal creators of environmental damage, they often bear the brunt of environmental damage and are often caught in a downward spiral, whereby the poor are forced to deplete resources to survive, and this degradation of the environment further impoverishes people. When this self-reinforcing downward spiral becomes extreme, people are forced to move in increasing numbers to marginal and ecologically fragile lands or to cities.
The above summarizes interlinkages between population, poverty and the environment can be shown and explained in detail in figure 1. In the diagram, the interlinkages between the three components of the analysis are summarised and depicted clearly.
From the above discussion, it can be understood that the links between poverty and population and that of the poverty and environment is two way while that of the population and the environment is one way from population to environment. It is clear to understand the direction of the interlinkages.
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