Natural Inferno

“Our population is spiraling out of control. Inferno is the cure.” That is a quote from Dan Brown’s book Inferno. The character who says this intended to fix the world’s problems by shrinking the world population through infertility. While population isn’t the biggest problem in the world and rendering one third of the population infertile is a bad idea, population does make a significant impact in many societies.
When we analyze GDP per person (PPP) in a country, then divide it by the population density, we see that countries with the lowest PPP and the highest population density have the most problems in their countries. This is due to low employment in areas where people are in close contact. Having lower economic opportunities along with challenges in daily life leads to conflicts between different religions and classes. Tensions like these lead to bigger problems, such as radicalism, and create opportunities for totalitarian governments to manipulate the population.
Of course exceptions apply, but countries with high PPP and low population density are less likely to have problems. For example, countries such as Australia and Finland have few pressing issues. Countries like Burundi and North Korea, on the other hand, have low PPP and high population density, and they have large local and global problems.
Burundi is currently facing a human rights crisis which the government is leading. There is countrywide violence and security officials are targeting and brutally attacking opponents of the government. And North Korea is a communist state being led by a man who is threatening to use nuclear weapons on countries that oppose the government's ideals.
Because these problems are likely stemming from lack of economic opportunity and high population density, solving such problems revolves around educating the masses and better urban planning.

 But that's what I think. You?

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