If you ask your mother or maybe a grandparent or anyone that went to school in 1960, they might remember when they were told that the world's population has reached 3 billion people, which compared to today's number (reaching 7.8 billion in 2018) seems not so bad, but let's see how this 3 billion people break, 1 billion in the most rich and healthy west, with an average of 2 children per women and the other 2 billion in the rest of the world, with an average of 8 children per wonan.
So the industrialized world had 1 billion people back in 1960, and the developing world had 2 billion people, and you could tell a big gap between the 1 billion in the industrialized world and the 2 billion in the developing world. In the industrialized world, people were healthy, educated, rich, and they had small families, and their aspiration was to buy a car. In contrast to this, people in the developing world, far away, their aspiration for the average family was to buy food for the day, and they were saving to buy a pair of shoes, so as you can see, there was an enormous gap in the world back then, and this gap between the west and the rest has created a mindset of the world, that we still use linguistically, that is when we are to talk about the west and the developing world. Now, the world has changed, and that mindset has to change, let's take 2010 when 4 billion people had been added to the world's population, this means that the world's population has more than doubled since 1960, plus, we have seen economic growth in the west, now they are only not saving for a car, they also want to have a holiday in a remote destination and they want to fly (driving just doesn't cut it no more), but also, the most successful billions in the developing world are aiming for the same, and they are now refered to as emerging economies, and they are now buying cars, that counts for 1 billion of the world's population, now let's see how we looked at the world back in 2010, 2 billion were still saving money to buy shoes and still struggling to buy food, almost as poor as they were 50 years ago (developing world). 3 billion is getting a lot more healthy, relatively more educated, and they are already having 2 or 3 children per woman, and their aspiration now is to buy a bicycle and probably a motorcycle one day., while the industrialized world has already worn out the dream of a car, which is no longer a dream (average people in America and other industrialized locations own at least a car), now they are thinking of vacations in some exotic destination, traveling by air.
And this is the world today, not very different from the picture of 2010, the gap is no longer in sight, but the distance from the very poorest to the very richest is wider than ever, although we are seen the picture of a continuous world, whose aspiration go from walking (pair of shoes, poorest 2 billion), biking (3 billion in the developing world), driving (1 billion in the top of the developing world), and flying (1 billion in the industrilized world), and most people tend to be somewhere in the middle.
But what will happen in the future, let's move forward into the year 2050, if you are going to China or know someone who has, you'd agree with that they will catch up with the industrialized countries, yes, their families will be as rich as their pairs in the west. And the old lower-middle-income countries (3 billion people) will also forge forward their economic growth and if, and only if, we invest in the right green technology so we can avoid severe climate change, and energy can still be relatively cheap, these 3 billion people will move to where the USA was in 1960, this means, they will start buying electric cars. Now, what about the poorest 2 billion of 2010? because all put together, the emerging economies and the industrialized world are already having from 1 to 2 children per woman, family planning is a constant in all homes, therefore, population growth is coming to an end. In the poorest places on earth, the population will still grow, turning the 2 billion of 1960 into 4 billion in 2050, and there is nothing but a nuclear war of the kind we have never seen before that can stop this from happening, but if and only if, this 4 billion get out of poverty, get education, improve child survival, they can buy a bicycle and a cellphone, then and only then, the world's population will stop growing, that is, if we are lucky and not so selfish, 11 billion humans in 2050. We cannot have people living in a world struggling for food and shoes, because then we will get continuous population growth and let's remember that we call the developing world the third world, but the truth is that there is only one world, and what happens somewhere, will have consecuences somewhere else, I mean, there is not such a thing as Chinese air, if you live in America, eventually you will get to breathe that "Chinese air", the same, and even more, goes for water, and since we are flying so much now, well, exotic sickness and viruses are also a threat.
But why is this happening, I mean, wouldn't be more accurate to think that not saving poor children will avoid overpopulation?. Well, the good news is that the answer to that horrible thought is a big ass NOOOO. It is a common misunderstanding to think that if we save all the poor children, the world will become overpopulated. As logical as this might sound, it is totally wrong, is the other way around, in fact, it is required to save the poor children's lives to stop overpopulation. Let's check out the UN numbers. Poor families have an average of 5 children, and one dies (that is an average too), so we get, 2 parents that are replaced by the 4 surviving children in the next generation, this means that population is growing really fast among the poorest, this happens in the worst of places, like in Congo or Afganistan. Today, where child mortality is highest, those are the places where the population is growing faster than anywhere else, but How many people live like this? Well, that is the poorest 2 billion, the other 5 billion are living in homes with only 2 children and very few child deaths. This goes for the majority of the world's population, this is not only Europe and the USA, this is throughout religions and cultures, regions and countries, China, Iran, Mexico, in all big cities around the world, including Africa today. In most populations, children just replace parents, and the population numbers no longer increase. And why so many people ended up with such small families? well, children stop dying, as they left extreme poverty and got a better education, parents no longer have to compensate for child death by having many babies, and the large family stopped being an economic necessity or a social state symbol, and with more accessible contraceptives, parents around the world decided to have a small families. So, by saving the lives of poor children, and helping the poorest 2 billion humans out of poverty, they will no longer wish for a family with a large number of children, eventually, reaching the 2 children family. That is the UN forecast for families to the end of the century, this is when the population of the world is expected to stop growing, but before it stops, another 4 billion will be added to the world's population count, and that is a lot of people, but like I said before, there is almost nothing to prevent this from happening, so, the longer poor children keep dying and this change is delayed, the more billions will be added to the population count before it stops growing.
What if we take conscience of the problem we are facing right now, what if we never help and always look the other way when poor people asks for help. Is it finally good for our future, our children's future or even anyone's or anything's future?.
What if we start from today doing individual efforts, baby steps if you wish, to help someone somewhere far away from your comfortable life, expecting nothing in return (not even a heartfelt thank you), being you, the only one that knows, what you are doing for the rest of the humankind. Wouldn't it feel like you are some kind of hero, the best kind, the unknown kind? How awesome is that? I've tried it, it does feel great.
What if my friend, what if.
Sorry for the long post, here is an awesome video.
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