Population growth has created lot of problems for the public as well as for the government. Some of the serious problems include:
1. Food Problem:
Daily a large number of new mouths are added to our existing population which requires food for their existence.
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Though the government has taken a number of measures for increasing the food production which has led to bumper crops in the past few years but even then India has to import food grains.
2. Falling Economic Standards:
In spite of all round development in our country the entire economy is being eaten up by rapid growth of population. In India about 40 percent of total population is below 15 years of age or ‘young population’ whereas about 13 per cent is above 60 years of age.
In other words about 55 percent of our population is dependent on the remaining 45 percent for all kinds of their requirements. Therefore dependency burden is very high. Per capita income is very low and more than 40 percent of India’s population lives below poverty line.
The benefits of planned development are mostly consumed by new population, making it more and more difficult to raise the existing standard of living.
3. Social Problems:
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The population explosion has led to various social problems which include:
(a) Poverty
(b) Unemployment
(c) Illiteracy due to inadequate schooling facilities
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(d) Psychological disturbances due to lack of individual attention towards children in large families
(e) Inadequate or substandard housing facilities
(f) Overcrowding at all places
(g) Law and order problem
4. Health Problems:
(a) Repeated pregnancies will deteriorate the health of the mother which may increase maternal mortality rate
(b) Higher infant and child deaths
(c) Lower expectation of life
(d) Inadequate nutrition
(e) Poor sanitation and pollution of water, food, soil and air
(f) Poor health care services. More hospitals, more doctors, more nurses and more financial resources are needed.
5. Ecological Problems:
With population explosion we need more land for housing, hospitals, schools and industries etc. For this purpose we will have to destroy the forests which will lead to ecological disturbances in turn leading to natural calamities.
From the above facts it is quite clear that food, social, economic and health problems of the country cannot be successfully tackled till the population growth is controlled.