Chinese Statements at the United Nations depopulation agenda in Bucharest 1974

[Charlotte]

The claim that "overpopulation is the reason why the have-not countries are poor" is a worn-out tune of the superpowers. What a mass of figures they have calculated in order to prove that the population is too large, the food supply too small and natural resources insufficient! But they never calculate the amount of natural resources they have plundered, the social wealth they have grabbed and the super-profits they have extorted from Asia, Africa and Latin America. Should an account be made of their exploitation, the truth with regard to the population problem will at once be out. Their multitude of population statistics will not help them a bit either. The average population to a square kilometer is only 12 in Africa, and 15 in Latin America. Though population density in the developing countries of Asia is a bit higher, it is nonetheless lower than that in the developed countries of Western Europe. How can it be said then that the have-not countries are poor because of over-population? They claim that poverty can be overcome by reducing the rate of population growth. If so, why are there still so many jobless and underfed people in the two superpower countries where the rate of population growth is relatively low and population density fairly small? [efn_note]Population Council, Chinese Statements on Population at Bucharest, 1974, and Mexico City, 1984[/efn_note]

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