The first problems are disease and starvation. Once you've improved conditions with respect to disease and starvation, more people are alive, demanding more res

The first problems are disease and starvation. Once you've improved conditions with respect to disease and starvation, more people are alive, demanding more resources. Now able to function as economic actors, they work and produce economic output - wealth for the society they live in. In turn this wealth produces a middle class. People who move into the middle class reproduce less frequently, have fewer children. So the best cure for overpopulation isn't limiting growth it is accelerating it. As much as it sucks to admit, there's no shortcut here. You need to go through every stage of development. Societies can't skip from step A where there is rampant starvation and disease and basic needs aren't met to step D where there is a flourishing middle class and population stability and control, without first going through steps B and C where basic needs are met but there is also overpopulation and widespread poverty. If you ask me, disease should be our #1 priority. Human beings can do almost anything if they are well, but if they are sick it becomes much, much harder to function and provide for their own basic needs. They are much more likely to starve if they are not well enough to go out and work.