Too great a population for a given area to support. ‘What might be termed overpopulation in one context might not in another because of differences in the standard of living aspired to by different populations…Overpopulation is often examined in relation to the term “demographic pressure”. This is a difficult concept to define since pressure is perceived in various ways, depending on whether countries are developed or less developed. In developed countries, which have reached a high standard of living, demographic pressure…is perceived as something that degrades the environment…Demographic growth, overpopulation and depopulation cannot be studied in the same way everywhere, because there are countless demographic systems, each of which is nested as a subsystem interlinked with other territorial, economic, cultural and social systems’ (Faus-Pujol and Higueras-Arnal (2000) Applied Geog. 20, 3).

Perhaps the foremost diagnoses of overpopulation come from P. Ehrlich (with A. Ehrlich 1990). Neo-Malthusians support the argument; see Lempert (1987) E. Afr. Econ. Rev. 3, 1. Marxists, however, view overpopulation as the result of the maldistribution and underdevelopment of resources (Marx, Capital, vol. iii; see also Y. S. Brenner 1969). In the developed world, some would suggest that pollution and the desecration of the countryside are indicators of overpopulation.