overpopulation

English

WOTD – 11 July 2022

Etymology

From over- (prefix meaning ‘excessive; excessively’) +‎ population.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌəʊvəˌpɒpjʊˈleɪʃn̩/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˌoʊvɚˌpɑpjəˈleɪʃ(ə)n/, /ˈoʊvɚ-/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪʃən
• Hyphenation: over‧pop‧u‧lat‧ion

Noun

overpopulation (countable and uncountable, plural overpopulations)

1. (biology, demography) An excessive number of occupants (people, animals, plants, etc.) in a particular area; specifically, when the number of occupants exceeds the ability of that area to provide for them.
   • 1860 August–December, John Ruskin, “Essay I. The Roots of Honour.”, in “Unto This Last:” Four Essays on the First Principles of Political Economy, London: Smith, Elder and Co., […], published 1862, →OCLC, page 162:

     I hope for another end, though not, indeed, from any of the three remedies for over-population commonly suggested by economists. These three are, in brief—Colonization; Bringing in of waste lands; or Discouragement of Marriage.

   • 1891 February–December, Robert Louis Stevenson, “Depopulation”, in In the South Seas […], New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, published 1896, →OCLC, part I (The Marquesas), page 37:

     Over the whole extent of the South Seas, from one tropic to another, we find traces of a bygone state of over-population, when the resources of even a tropical soil were taxed, and even the improvident Polynesian trembled for the future.

Related terms

• overpopulate
• overpopulated (adjective)
• overpopulous

Translations

excessive number of occupants in a particular area; specifically, when the number of occupants exceeds the ability of that area to provide for them

• Albanian: mbipopullim (sq) m
• Arabic: زيادة سكانية ?
• Armenian: please add this translation if you can
• Azerbaijani: əhali artıqlığı
• Belarusian: перанасяленне n (pjeranasjaljennje), перанаселеннасць f (pjeranasjeljennascʹ)
• Bhojpuri: अतिजनसंख्या (atijanᵊsaṅkhyā)
• Catalan: superpoblació f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 人口過多／人口过多 (rénkǒu guòduō), 人口過剩／人口过剩 (rénkǒu guòshèng)

• Czech: přelidnění n
• Danish: overbefolkning c
• Dutch: overbevolking (nl) f
• Finnish: liikakansoitus (fi), ylikansoitus (fi), liikaväestö
• French: surpeuplement (fr) m, surpopulation (fr) f
• Galician: superpoboación (gl) f
• German: Überbevölkerung (de) f, Übervölkerung f
• Hungarian: túlnépesedés (hu)
• Indonesian: kelebihan penduduk
• Italian: sovrappopolamento m (process), sovrappopolazione (it) f
• Japanese: 人口過剰 (じんこうかじょう, jinkō kajō)
• Maori: taupori tuhene
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: overbefolkning m or f

  Nynorsk: overbefolkning f, overfolking f

• Persian: ازدیاد جمعیت
• Polish: przeludnienie (pl) n
• Portuguese: sobrepopulação f, sobrepovoamento f, sobrepovoação f, superpopulação f, superpovoação f, superpovoamento f
• Romanian: suprapopulare (ro) f, suprapopulație (ro) f
• Russian: перенаселе́ние (ru) n (perenaselénije), перенаселённость (ru) f (perenaseljónnostʹ)
• Spanish: sobrepoblación f, superpoblación f
• Swedish: överbefolkning (sv) c
• Thai: ประชากรล้น (bprà-chaa-gɔɔn-lón)
• Ukrainian: please add this translation if you can

Further reading

• overpopulation on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Human overpopulation on Wikipedia.Wikipedia