As life expectancy in the U.S. reaches an all-time high, unexpected problems associated with a healthy, long-living nation are starting to arise.
In the 2009 report by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, data showed an increase in average life expectancy of almost 78 years.
The death rate has dropped to 760.3 deaths per 100,000 people, which is an all-time low.
The CDC attributes these numbers to factors like improvements in medical care.
"If you look at all the demographic groups, we are making improvements across the board," said Robert Anderson, chief of the Mortality Statistics Branch at the CDC, in a statement. "It is difficult to say for sure why this trend continues. There are lots of factors that could be in play."
A CDC newsroom spokesperson said claims that a higher life expectancy and lower death rate could lead to negative outcomes are based on speculation and that many factors outside human control could lead to hypothetical problems like overpopulation.
Overpopulation can lead to increasing poverty, food shortages and economic turmoil. Overpopulation also upsets natural environments, said Dale Dickens, director of student services of the School of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences.
"Every environment has limited resources, if suddenly there is more life than it can sustain, it exceeds holding capacity and it causes permanent damage," Dickens said.
Paul Herlich, a biology professor at Stanford University, said about a possible solution to the potential threat of overpopulation.
"(We need) the addition of temporary sterilants to water supplies or staple food, Doses of the antidote would be carefully rationed by the government to produce the desired family size," Herlich said.
His ideas may seem radical, but many countries are already employing similar practices.
The Chinese government has used several methods to control population growth.
In the 1980s, sterilization target goals were set, and it became prohibited for couple's to have more than two children.
India has been implementing official family planning programs to curb population growth since the '50s.
Problems caused by overpopulation affecting the U.S. have already been explored in fiction. One example is Harry Harrison's 1966 novel "Make Room! Make Room!," which explored the theme of overpopulation and social disorder.
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