INTERNATIONAL CONFLICTS AND OVERPOPULATION: SELECTED SOCIAL AND MEDICAL ASPECTS

Environmental destruction is proportional to the population size. Despite declining birth rates, the world’s population continues to increase. Several regions are discussed in this review. Related topics are tackled in separate sections: parricide and elder abuse, birth control and permanent contraception. In Russia, many popular and professional publications are biased, exaggerating or inventing adverse effects of contraception. Effective solutions require rethinking certain stereotypes and introducing the new principle: no population group, either locally or globally, should benefit from faster growth. Birth control is disapproved in some countries due to perceived national interests. Conflicts provide motives for high birth rates, as the military needs young people. In the past, overpopulation was balanced out by wars, epidemics, and famine. Today, there appears to be the last chance to apply humane methods, consciously choosing between birth control and increased mortality. Russian leaders are accused of aggression nowadays. In fact, they could be paving the way for a new historical era. Should the world become multipolar, armed conflicts of varying magnitude might become permanent. A constructive alternative would be global leadership, concentrated in developed parts of the world, based on humanism and modern science. Great projects could be realized by a united humanity.