a decent chunk of it, yeah, especially considering the one child policy. but the tv show's gotta tv show and the straits were dire! sending the 100 down to earth only bought an extra month of oxygen for everyone still on board, and they still had to cull like 300 volunteers later.

also every adult who commits even a minor infraction is automatically sentenced to death. so like, at least the delinquents got a chance; they were all set for their crimes to be reviewed at 18, and plenty probably would have been proper executed via sucked out of an airlock if they couldn't positively contribute to the ark. yaaaay, utilitarianism!