This sudden increase in the population of the developing countries has come at a difficult time. Even if their population had not grown so fast they would have been facing a desperate struggle to bring the standard of living of their people up to the point at which there was enough food, housing, education, medical care and employment for everyone to have a reasonable life.The poor countries are having to run faster and faster in their economic activity in order to stay in the same place, and the gap in wealth between rich and poor countries grows wider every year.
The most pressing problem created by the rapid increase in population is a shortage of food. More mouths have to be fed every year and yet a high proportion of the existing population are not getting enough of the right kind of food. Over the past two years the total amount of food has decreased, and of course the total amount of food per person has decreased even more sharply.
More and more of the babies born in developing countries have been surviving infancy, and now nearly half the people living in those countries are under the age of 15. The adults have to work harder than ever to provide for the needs of the children,who cannot contribute to the economy until they are older. There is a shortage of schools and teachers, and there are not enough hospitals, doctors and nurses. Farming land is becoming scarce,so country people are moving to the towns and cities in the hope of finding a better standard of living. But the cities have not been able to provide housing, and the newcomers live in crowded slums.Finally, there are too few jobs, and unemployment leads to further poverty.
人口爆炸带来的问题
发展中国家的人口骤增在困难的时刻发生。即使其人口没有如此迅速地增长，它 们 也一直面临着一场极其严峻的斗争：为了把人民的生活提高到一个像样的水平，达到人人能有饭吃，有房住，能享受教育、医疗和就业机会，就要进行艰巨的努力。贫穷的国家为了保持地位不下降，在经济上不得不加快速度急起直追，因为贫穷的国家和富裕的国家在财富上的差距一年比一年大。
人口猛增造成的最紧迫的问题 是 食品短缺。每年有更多的人口需要养活，而现有人口中的很大一部分还没有得到足够的像样的食物。在过去两年中，粮食总量在下降，不用说，人均食物消耗量就下降得更多了。
发展中国家越来越多的婴儿幸存下来了，现在，生活在这些国家的人口有将近一半不满15岁。这种年龄的孩子要长大一些才能为经济出力。为了抚养孩子，成年人被迫比过去任何时候都更加辛苦地工作。学校缺少，教师不足，医院、医生和护士也都不够。 由于可耕地越来越少，乡下人不断流向城镇，希望过上好一点的生活。可 是 ，城市却难以提供住房，新来的乡下人只好住在拥挤的贫民区。最后，工作机会太少，失业将会导致严重的贫困。
