underpopulation
- noun
- /ˌʌndərˈpɒpjʊˈleɪʃən/
:
subpoblación
- The town is struggling to maintain its services due to underpopulation, which has led to fewer residents paying taxes.
Examples
-
Other than this, there are a number of possible reasons for the decreased level of physical activity: difficulty in finding playmates in the neighborhood because of underpopulation, increased use of home entertainment such as TV and video games, hard work for entrance examinations to prestigious schools and universities, and lack of sleeping hours because of staying up late at night.
Academic text (2012) -
Experts warn that the underpopulation of rural areas can result in the collapse of local economies.
-
The government is addressing the challenges of underpopulation by offering incentives for families to move to less populated regions.
Synonyms
4
7.2
A decrease in the number of people living in a place
Antonyms
How Populated
Surface Forms
Morphology
underpopulation = population (transparent) = under + population
The meaning is directly built from 'under' (insufficient) + 'population' and is readily inferable by learners.
Etymology
Underpopulation breaks into under- and population, where under- means 'not enough' or 'below' and population means 'people'. So underpopulation is when there are too few people in a place for it to work well, for example when schools close or services stop.