The Philippine Church, State, and People on the Problem of Population

Abstract

his paper will take a look at six things, namely: 1) the global picture of the population problem; 2) the leading theories on population; 3) the place of the Philippines among the worlds’ most populated, densest and fastest growing countries; 4) the contours and behavior of Philippine demographics; 5) the existing power relations amidst the Philippine Church, State, and people concerning the issue of population; and 6) the possibility of a better alternative paradigm of power relations from the encyclical Deus Caritas Est of Pope Benedict XVI. A Global Picture of the Population Problem The problem of over-population is a very recent phenomenon. Human beings have been in existence for the past 200,000 years, but the threat of over-population appeared only in the last 200 years. From the emergence of the first Homo sapiens (200,000 BC) to the invention of agriculture, demographers believe that the human population did not exceed four million. Agricultural Revolution (8,000 BC) enabled the world to support more than four million human beings. Population started to grow more rapidly.