Underpopulation

1. REDIRECTPopulation decline

Underpopulation is a phenomenon unique to human communities, and not generally applicable to animals, due to the human ability to create new resources over and above those provided originally by the Earth. This is done to provide for human survival needs, and since the creation of resources itself requires a minimum number of people, a condition of underpopulation can be said to exist when human numbers in a community are inadequate for this purpose. Generally, population sufficiency may be defined thus:

'A state in which the number of people in a given region is sufficient to produce resources from available raw materials in sufficient quantities to sustain themselves at a standard of living they consider acceptable.'

An underpopulated area is thus one unable to meet this definition.

Note the many factors involved in determining whether an area is underpopulated; each can also vary greatly. The amount of raw material locally available from nature is just one of many considerations, and is just as subject to change as the others. Consider these factors in the order they appear in the definition:

number: the minimum number required is determined by the many factors which follow.

people: domesticated animals and livestock could in a sense be considered part of the population which is working the land to make it more productive, and an increase in such animals may in some cases be the crucial difference which enables an area to support its human residents.[1]

a given region: can be redefined by our ability to travel and explore for more resources beyond what was previously known, thereby bringing them within the “economic sphere” of the community.

to produce resources: a function of technology, which improves with new inventions and experience.

from available raw materials: availability can be expanded with further exploration and discovery, or trade between regions, while the recognition of raw materials can be improved by new scientific knowledge which identifies new uses for known substances, as well as ways to re-use existing resources or wastes. Improved extraction technologies can also make more resources accessible, a precondition for availability.

sufficient quantities: this changes as technological progress improves efficiency, making resources go further.

sustain: not every community intends to remain in one place forever. Sustainment of a nomadic people means something different than for those inhabiting cities or tied to farmland. (Thus for a shepherd facing depleted grazing land, rather than find more people and tools to make the land more productive, a better solution may be to change the land itself by re-locating to an area which does not require more people.)

themselves: a community need not provide for all its own needs; in fact, hardly any do so. Trading with another community improves the efficiency of resource production and usage in both. The increasingly expanded economies of all areas of our world, culminating in a globalized international trade zone, make it impossible even conceptually to bound a region which provides for all its own needs, other than the entire Earth itself.

standard of living: defined in large part by current standards in the world around us. Poverty is in some cases defined by nothing more than relative levels of wealth (e.g., the lowest 10% in income), not absolute levels. The richest societies of a few centuries ago would be considered unacceptably backward today in terms of sanitation, medical care, entertainment, human rights, opportunities, mobility, communication, etc. Thus our standards are evolving constantly.

they: ultimately only the residents determine what standard of living they require; people living elsewhere should not presume to do so.

acceptable: obviously very subject to personal tastes and expectations, this can be adjusted if people like their home region enough that they would rather do without various resources than change the land or re-locate to a more fruitful one. Thus when people move from city to countryside to “get away from it all,” they understand they will be sacrificing certain creature comforts and cultural opportunities in exchange for other benefits. They do not consider themselves deprived just because their new home towns lack enough people to provide a higher standard of living.

[1] Consider for example Arctic peoples’ dependence on sled dogs.