The world population is approximately 7.16 billion and increasing (quote). This means that it has almost doubled in the last forty years. We now face a serious and significant concern about overpopulation. How many people this planet can support is becoming controversial. While some argue that everyone could live in the state of Texas if we simply put 10,500 people on every square mile (quote), others argue that we do not have enough supplies and resources on our land for each person. Regardless of how the conflict is viewed, many people are deprived of food, shelter and clothing due to overcrowding. Many countries are reducing their populations through family planning. According to the Oxford Dictionary, family planning is defined as "the practice of controlling the number of children in a family and the intervals between their births, especially by means of artificial contraception or voluntary sterilization" (quote ). Over the past three decades, the global percentage of couples using a family planning method has increased significantly; however, this amount would increase significantly if everyone had easy access to it. In the hinterlands of “sub-Saharan Africa, it takes an average of two hours to reach the nearest contraceptive provider” (quote). In many cases, people often cannot afford some form of birth control. Additionally, many governments ban life-saving methods of contraception. For example, Japan often discourages the use of birth control pills rather than condoms (quote). However, there are some disagreements with this; Family planning is the best decision to solve the world's population problems. In China, they are often criticized by the majority due to ...... middle of paper ...... doubled. Even though the number of people or population continues to increase, the annual growth rate begins to decline. The consequences of overpopulation are extremely dangerous. Overpopulation causes illness and disease. Resources and food will be limited and the environment will not be healthy. If things remain the same, people will face major difficulties in the near future. Many people today are beginning to feel the hidden effects of overpopulation; in the future it will be much worse. The United States is not overly populated compared to many other countries, and North America's fertility rate is just over two (quote). Even though we have not felt the impact of overpopulation too much compared to other countries, we will ultimately be hit hard by the ever-increasing problem of overpopulation if we do not act now..