Strangely enough, population is exploding in developing countries, despite all the famine, war, disease and so forth. There are numerous complex reasons behind this. For example, many developing countries have backwoods type infrastructures, and the rural lifestyle demands many kids to help. Many areas do not have access to birth control or have taboos against it. Remember also there is a difference between having a pulse and barely getting by vs. a good standard of living. People can be alive with the population growing, but their lives might not be high quality, there can be much suffering involved.
A lot of these cultures have animistic beliefs or types of beliefs where their land is very much alive itself and to be respected- to never take more than you give from it. Models of common theistic beliefs (ie the Abrahamic religious traditions) over many years have helped to create an image of nature being more dead..and as a resource to exploit. It is not necessarily religion itself of this type that is the main culprit, however the religion can serve as a bedrock or excuse for this view. Thus trees are not vibrant and full of living energy and spirits, but dead wood to be turned into paper, in example. Even aside from religious belief, Western style materialism and industrialism have greatly contributed to the decimation of nature. In other words, over time an entire culture is engrained with prevailing beliefs, religious or otherwise, to give them ideas on what is 'right' or 'wrong', and many modern industrialized cultures are so far removed from nature that they feel it is ok to destroy it. It is especially ok if you don't directly starve as a consequence, since another land base is exploited.
In places where people cling to older and tribal lifestyles (that tend to respect nature), hard choices are faced. Getting kicked off land against their will so outsiders can exploit the resources is a common refrain. Rural to urban migration ensues as many try to find better luck 'in the city', though the luck is not commonly found. Factory workers can make next to nothing in a day and all too often face horrible work conditions, but they feel it is a situation better THAN nothing. Some remain in the countryside to try agricultural type work in an effort just to survive. Farmers face cash crop problems centering around demand. If there is low demand for their product, they won't sell a lot of it and won't get paid much for it. High demand is actually a curse too, since it creates lots of competition, and only the lowest prices for the crop are wanted by buyers. If farmers in developing countries want to sell a high-demand product AT ALL, then they have to lower the price as much as possible or be beat by the next competitor. Natural disasters can get in the way of crop growing as well. Drought, floods, hurricanes and all manner of storms, you name it. What is surprising is that many natural disasters are more man made than is initially thought. Global warming and climate change have had strong roots in pollution created by man. More erratic weather patterns tend to set in. Deforestation and overgrazing livestock can cause desertification, mudslides, and many other problems. The interference of man can create species invasion in places it is not naturally meant to occur, thus disrupting fragile ecosystems. Then there are disasters more apparently manmade. Nuclear reactor meltdowns, dams creating drought (or breaking and flooding), oil refineries exploding or oil spills, chemical spills, and many more are instances of this!
Overpopulation is an obvious and large problem in the world. In first world countries, people consume enormous amounts of resources and create incredulous amounts of waste. In third world countries, way less is consumed or wasted, however the consumption and pollution is still there. Because population continues to grow even in developing countries, there are shortages of food and other necessities to go around. The demand for all of it is not just from the locals, privileged countries exploit and take what they want from these less fortunate areas. That alone can create shortage. In theory, if things were done right there should be enough food and commodities for living to go around for everyone. The more powerful and rich countries take greedily like blustering bullies, and even within the poor countries there are corrupted forces (usually their own governments or say rebel militias) that will take things by force if need be. Dirt poor countries are like giant versions of ghettos in advanced countries- there are more problems with power struggle and crime among the obvious problems of poverty and sickness and hunger. Entire wars and genocides seem to easily blow up in countries where control and stability was never a luxury to begin with. Refugees who flee from these conflicts bring with them the problems they initially faced but in new areas.
Food and medical aid programs help, but also create a sort of ratchet effect. The more the poor are sponsored and helped, the more they thrive, then they develop to a point where the need is twice as great as before because less people have died of starvation and sickness. I'm not coldly stating that they all deserve to die, just presenting the outline of a 'bottomless pit' type problem. Because they, and even members of the developed countries, grow and grow, but the environment and resources dwindle more and more. We will all literally thrive to death on this planet!
