Excessive Growth and Decline
Population exceeding the carrying capacity of an area or environment is called overpopulation. It may be caused by growth in population or by reduction in capacity. Spikes in human population can cause problems such as pollution and traffic congestion, these might be resolved or worsened by technological and economic changes. Conversely, such areas may be considered "underpopulated" if the population is not large enough to maintain an economic system (see population decline). Between these two extremes sits the notion of the optimum population.
Read more about this topic: Population Growth
Famous quotes containing the words excessive, growth and/or decline:
“Adolescent girls were fighting a mother’s interference because they wanted her to acknowledge their independence. Whatever resentment they had was not towards a mother’s excessive concern, or even excessive control, but towards her inability to see, and appreciate, their maturing identity.”
—Terri Apter (20th century)
“Every child has an inner timetable for growth—a pattern unique to him. . . . Growth is not steady, forward, upward progression. It is instead a switchback trail; three steps forward, two back, one around the bushes, and a few simply standing, before another forward leap.”
—Dorothy Corkville Briggs (20th century)
“The chief misery of the decline of the faculties, and a main cause of the irritability that often goes with it, is evidently the isolation, the lack of customary appreciation and influence, which only the rarest tact and thoughtfulness on the part of others can alleviate.”
—Charles Horton Cooley (1864–1929)