The Threat of Overpopulation in Zambia A Critique

A visitor from another planet, flying from London to Lusaka, would see very little from the air to suggest that the world experienced any problem of overpopulation. True, when leaving London he would see a city of 6,75 million people living in close, but highly ordered and organised, proximity to each other. Flying over Europe the interplanetary visitor would see scattered towns and settlements, but as the flight proceeded over Africa these would become smaller and more dispersed. After the great barrenness of the Sahara, the visitor would be struck by the sparsity of human settlements - so few towns and cities, such great distances between the tell-tale lights of flickering fires, such vast expanses of wooded and virtually uninhabited areas. Coming down low over Zambia in preparation for landing in Lusaka, he would see with even greater clarity that here was a land that looked hospitable and supportive and 'that confirmed the impression gained during the flight that the world as a whole was quite thinly populated, and that this was particularly true of Africa and of Zambia, as one of Africa’s larger countries. The visitor would indeed be surprised to hear that there is international concern that the world has about as many people at present as it wants and that if population growth continues on its present path there will soon be more people than the world can support. Looking at Zambia, he might well reiterate the question asked a few years ago by university visitors from Japan: ’’where are all the people?"