9 countries to account for half of world population growth by 2050! (legal, stores)
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I would even go further and say it could easily accommodate a billion. China already has well exceeded that number and have plenty of space. Same goes for Canada and Australia among others.
Overpopulated China isn't a nice place to live.
Yes, the US can accommodate even 2 billion people as long as you are fine with third world lifestyle.
I remember in the 1980s driving across the US a few times and thinking how sparsely populated it was - at the time around 250,000,000 - and that it could easily hold 500,000,000.
Yes, the US can accommodate even 2 billion people as long as you are fine with third world lifestyle.
At 1 billion people the US would not even have the population density of an average Western European country and this is far from being a third world lifestyle.
I would even go further and say it could easily accommodate a billion. China already has well exceeded that number and have plenty of space. Same goes for Canada and Australia among others.
China does not have plenty of space. The liveable area is already almost completely taken up. Western China is either desert or highlands like Tibet, do you want to live there? The ecosystem in China is already a complete disaster with their severe water and soil pollution. The situation is even worse than their air pollution as you can solve the latter by closing down the factories.
Canada and Australia also can't handle billions of people. The majority of Canada is tundra and cold af. There's a reason why almost the entire Canadian population lives near the border to the US; with Australia the majority of the whole continent is desert. Sydney and Melbourne are great cities to live in, but the desert isn't, unless you're secretly a scorpion.
At 1 billion people the US would not even have the population density of an average Western European country and this is far from being a third world lifestyle.
Most of Western Europe is quite habitable. Alaska, the largest state in the US, only has a population under 1 million because it's not really habitable. The drought in California is just the tip of iceberg of the water shortage in western US.
Half a billion is fine, 1 - 2 billion is going to be a disaster.
Most of Western Europe is less developed than the US. Nobody wants to lower their quality of life, even if it's not that bad.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Milky Way Resident
I would even go further and say it could easily accommodate a billion. China already has well exceeded that number and have plenty of space. Same goes for Canada and Australia among others.
Exactly, and China is literally about the same size as America--slightly larger or smaller, depending on if you include certain coastal waters. Granted, the contiguous area of America is smaller than China, but even excluding Alaska/Hawaii, we could still support far more people if our infrastructure was more efficient. Even New York City pales in comparison to Shanghai and Beijing in city proper scope (though its metropolitan area, while still less dense and smaller, is far more comparable).
Most of Western Europe is quite habitable. Alaska, the largest state in the US, only has a population under 1 million because it's not really habitable. The drought in California is just the tip of iceberg of the water shortage in western US.
The Midwestern US, the East Coast, the PNW and the South are quite habitable so I wouldn't use that as an argument.
Quote:
Originally Posted by GoodHombre
Most of Western Europe is less developed than the US. Nobody wants to lower their quality of life, even if it's not that bad.
Fair enough, just saying that a higher population density does not necessarily mean third world living standards. Many densely populated countries in Europe are equally or more developed than the US as well. If the US had Germany's or Switzerland's population density it could easily accommodate 1.5 billion people and would still be more developed than the current US. Don't get me wrong, I don't want America to be 1.5 billion people because part of this country's appeal is the vast wilderness which would be significantly reduced if that were the case.
Exactly, and China is literally about the same size as America--slightly larger or smaller, depending on if you include certain coastal waters. Granted, the contiguous area of America is smaller than China, but even excluding Alaska/Hawaii, we could still support far more people if our infrastructure was more efficient. Even New York City pales in comparison to Shanghai and Beijing in city proper scope (though its metropolitan area, while still less dense and smaller, is far more comparable).
For some reason, the U.S doesn't seem to have the ability to build infrastructure and community for densely populated cities. Shanghai is incredibly safe, the public transportation is ten times better than NYC. It has its fair share of bad neighborhoods, but even the worst neighborhood is safer than anywhere in the U.S, only poor people, no ghettos.
We all know this isn't possible in the U.S. If you want to live in a safe area, you have to live in an affluent suburb where the population density is low and public transportation doesn't really exist. Low population density is what makes America great. Just because Asian cities can do it doesn't mean the idea works everywhere.
Yes, the US can accommodate even 2 billion people as long as you are fine with third world lifestyle.
I never suggested it would be ideal, but the poster was talking about physical space. Of course having a billion people nowadays would not be feasible, but given time it may become so depending on what happens to jobs and infrastructure. Unless population were to go down at some point, it is a reality future generations will have to deal with.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Greysholic
China does not have plenty of space. The liveable area is already almost completely taken up. Western China is either desert or highlands like Tibet, do you want to live there? The ecosystem in China is already a complete disaster with their severe water and soil pollution. The situation is even worse than their air pollution as you can solve the latter by closing down the factories.
I wouldn't really want to live anywhere in China, but that's for different reasons. People find ways to live in harsh environments so if the need arises more developments will happen there.
Quote:
Canada and Australia also can't handle billions of people. The majority of Canada is tundra and cold af. There's a reason why almost the entire Canadian population lives near the border to the US; with Australia the majority of the whole continent is desert. Sydney and Melbourne are great cities to live in, but the desert isn't, unless you're secretly a scorpion.
I'm well aware of why those specific areas are inhabited in both countries as the other ones are inhospitable. The point is that all those countries have tons of physical space so we are not running out of land.
For the record, I do believe we are overpopulated, but not from that point of view. It's more an issue of people having too many kids when there are no jobs to cover that demand, thus raising unemployment levels worldwide.
Brazil could easily have a population of half a billion. Climate is good year-round with no extreme heat or cold, no desert (only a semi-arid area). But by the projections we'll reach only 250 million inhabitants and then the population already will start to decline, before 2050.
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Don't get me wrong, I don't want America to be 1.5 billion people because part of this country's appeal is the vast wilderness which would be significantly reduced if that were the case.
