The single greatest threat to the future of our planet, to the environment and to our resources, may be too many people.
             Overpopulation is a global problem with environmental, social, and economic issues. It is likely that by the year 2050, the world's population will double. The problem is not just running out of space, but the quality of life. The main concern is what can be done to solve the population problem.
             Our population is growing at an enormously fast rate, not because people are having more children, but because fewer people are dying due to better health and longer life spans. As women and families become wealthier and more educated, they tend to have fewer children, because children are not needed to help earn money for the family, and are often seen as road blocks in the way of educated women seeking careers.
             Every twenty minutes, the world adds another 3,500 human lives. In the next hundred years, dramatic changes will occur as earth becomes a packed-tight world even more crowded and degraded. It is likely to be hotter, with much more desert and less farming land. Huge losses of plant and animal life will also take place.
             Many developing countries are already living this future and the effects of overpopulation. Every day it is a struggle for the people to find food, water and shelter. They live in poor conditions; their main goal is to survive. The reason third world countries are so badly affected is because they have no funding for birth control. Girls tend to leave school very early, rarely beyond 5th grade, and they start their families soon after. Studies have shown that the lower the education the higher the birth rates.
             Much of the third world is not on a path of economic growth. In fact, if anything they are going backwards. Even if they were to improve their economy, it would still not solve the problem because the damage has already been done and would be close to impossi...