Belly and Foxy,

I am not claiming that the white regime in Rhodesia was correct, however, to claim that the Blacks were slaves or near it is pure bollocks and self inflicted ignorance.

I would suggest that you read book by Peter Godwin called Mukiwa, and perhaps his second book called When the crocodile ate the sun.

The parts of the world that are over populated are also in unstable governments. Either war torn or due to corruption and neglance stripping the people and leaving mass poverty. First element to fight over population isn't population control, but to have stable governments. The second element to fight over population is to have oppurtunities for individuals in the job markets. Industries to support a population and some industries (Not the majority) that require more training or education yo strive for. Those specialized industries will have the effect of helping people to prolong having a family until they finish their career goals, while the other nonspecialized industries will provide a stable income without specialized training both for those who strive for more and don't land a job in their field of study, as well as for those who just go into the job market as soon as they can.

These two things will help a country to manage itself by having the ability to look after it's own people. If that happens then it doesn't matter the family size or population control methods, because you are fixing the issues directly by looking for stability in nations.

We need nation building across the world, not population control schemes.

Dear Uncle Fester,

I didn't say there was no correlation between education and fertility rate.

I did explain how the position of women in the workforce can effect changes in the fertility rate.

It's not me, it's you.

In my rebuttal of loudmouths insult I drifted from his post
Admit I only fully read his after posting my reply
So here go,s yes some parts of the world go hungry because of wars, shortages of water/rain, some [far far too much] because of truly evil government
Even western country's invest in near slave labour,
BUT yes once, pre white man, Africans could and did grow ample food
They DO NOT have the land or tools to do that now, see after the formation of Zimbabwe, white taken from farms and the farms failing
Find good in that, tell me today's combined waste and unavailability of ground and water is not making part of that continent over populated
Taking a stand to defend a race or country , blaming other races or country's, will not its self restore the land

Belly,

There is a massive difference between the productivity of industrial farming with irrigation, farm machinery and fertilizers and subsistence farmers with hand tools of probably 10x for the same land.

Add to this the fact that the confiscated farms were generally given to party bosses and not farmers and you have a man made disaster.

Belly,

To take an extreme example of 'over-population', in terms of people per square kilometre, Singapore would probably take the prize. Is Singapore one of the poorest countries on the planet ?

You have to throw technology and good government into the mix before you airily declare that there is over-population anywhere.

Apropos of nothing much, here's a summary of China's population changes in the next fifty years or so:

https://asia.nikkei.com/Politics/China-s-population-forecast-to-peak-at-1.44bn-in-2029

Rapid decline in birth numbers, and rise in death numbers - those lines will cross in the next ten years. I think it's a bit optimistic about the gentleness of China's population decline - I think it will be more rapid and more savage, countered economically only by the much higher levels of skills and incomes of those Chinese who are young enough to work.

Of course, African countries will be smarter and not try to limit births by decree or force as China has done, but - eventually - by improving educational opportunities, especially for girls and women, and, down the track, being affluent enough to afford to provide old age pensions.

Joe