As we discovered in our demographic analysis, the population of Ethiopia is exploding. By 2050, Ethiopia will host a teeming population of 174 million people. The problems Ethiopia will face in 2050 are likely to reflect, and in fact be largely influenced by, this rapid increase in population. Therefore, we believe that Ethiopia will face the following population problems by 2050:
1.) Extreme hunger will be a way of life for a greater number of people. Thomas Malthus theorized that overpopulation is a problem that is taken care of by nature; the more people there are, the less food there is to go around. Famine will eradicate the extra members of the population. Ethiopia already has enourmous problems feeding its hungry; a doubled population will only exacerbate this problem.
2.) Extreme poverty will affect a much great number of Ethiopians. Unless economic opportunities expand soon, a greater proportion of Ethiopians will live in abject poverty, simply because more people are being brought into the world than there are economic opportunities.
3.) Distributing health care will be very difficult. With a greater number of people, producing, paying for, and distributing health care will be much more difficult.
4.) Universal education will become much more difficult to achieve. It's a game of numbers. The more people a population has, the more difficult it is to build the required number of schools, pay the necessary number of teachers, and enforce school attendance, especially for rural children.
5.) War. According to Vaclav Smil, young populations with little economic opportunity are much more likely to engage in violence and fundamentalism than older populations with lots of economic opportunity (618). Ethiopia has a history of conflict with Somalia and especially Eritrea over border disputes. With a young population with nowhere to go, these conflicts are likely to flare up and decrease the quality of life for the entire Ethiopian population.
Smil, Vaclav. "The Next 50 Years: Unfolding Trends". Population and Development Review, 2005. Pgs 605-643.
Photo source:http://gbgm-umc.org/umcor/emergency/ethiopia.cfm
