Imagined geographies of Caribbean overpopulation: Statistical biases and ideological contentions

One of the main justifications for population policy is the recurrent fear of overpopulation. Almost every single island in the Caribbean has been identified as overpopulated by U.S. generals, government officials, journalists, end-of –poverty economists, or public health researchers. Claims of overpopulation have resulted in a forecast of a “standing room only island,” Barbados, an assertion that is mathematically incorrect and has been repeated ever since. Most often, claims of overpopulation are based on an island high population density, which are the result of a statistical artifice. This presentation identifies the mathematical errors and statistical biases of such claims of Caribbean overpopulation. It also analyzes these images of overpopulation using Edward Said's concept of imaginary geography, which refers to the demarcation and description of a foreign area, in ways in which distance and difference are overstated, portraying its inhabitants as a members of an inferior race. The imagined geographies of overpopulation engendered identities and inspire colonial policy. Demographers, public health researchers, and policy makers should be critical of claims of overpopulation. Assertions of Caribbean overpopulation constitute an imagined geography that requires some sort of mathematical expression as a justification of an ideological contention.