Talk:List of most overpopulated countries

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[edit] What Is Overpopulated?

This is a list of the "most" overpopulated countries. There is a separate list on Wikipedia of the most densely populated countries. While I understand what the most densely populated countries are and how this is measured, I do not understand as to what measurement determines when a country is the most overpopulated? Is there some point at which a population passes to move from appropriately populated to OVERpopulated. The comments are not consistent, sometimes discussing density and sometimes discussing resource depletion. I am not unsympathetic to an effort to identify the most overpopulated countries but I think a reference encyclopedia needs an objective standard for such measurement. LAWinans (talk) 20:36, 3 March 2008 (UTC)

I agree there is a real problem with this page. Overpopulated is not another word for densely populated. The UK is densely populated but not overpopulated. I doubt if you could call any MEDC overpopulated whilst some LEDCs may fall into the category. Overpopulated means that given the level of technology and the resources available if the country had few people it would have a higher standard of living. I'm not sure what is to be done with page. Help & suggestions needed. SuzanneKn (talk) 17:04, 15 March 2008 (UTC)

I also agree, but... A separate list would be needed with each overpopulation definition. Population in relation to arable land or energy resources or water supply would require three lists. And that's only three of many separate parameters. Although not related to overpopulation or other determinant, the CIA factbook uses "rank order" lists that might be somewhat of an example. Some "spreadsheet lists" have numerous columns that can be selected and automatically sorted where each column would be for each parameter. Then each parameter could be defined separately as it relates to overpopulation regardless of country. (I have no idea if this could be done in wiki.)

I think a place to start would be to define each overpopulation related parameter starting with the most obvious like natural resources. But then there is a problem when one resource could be substituted for another. For instance, a country without much fresh water but with great energy resources could use that energy to run desalination plants. Similarly, that energy resource could be sold to purchase another lacking resource such as no arable land to produce food. In such cases, that might otherwise have been a factor of overpopulation. Thinking of all the combination of factors is overwhelming especially when considering the enviromental issues that can't be ignored as overpopulation factors.

At the least, an introduction to this list could be expanded to incorportate the ideas of this discussion as it progresses. Mike 172.130.0.110 (talk) 10:11, 16 April 2008 (UTC)