While 8 billion is a significant milestone, its magnitude is misleading. Instead of wondering whether we have too many or too few people, we should be asking how we can sustainably meet the needs of the people we have. And a recent column in the Sunday Times naively argued that the UK should “tax the childless” in order to address declining fertility rates.Īs demographers – experts in the study of population – we see both of these arguments as misguided and fundamentally answering the wrong question. Elon Musk has said that “population collapse due to low fertility rates is a much bigger risk to civilization than global warming”. On the other side are arguments that we have too few people. On one side are concerns that there are too many people, and that sheer numbers are causing our current environmental crisis. You can listen to more articles from The Conversation, narrated by Noa, here.Īlarmism about population growth has a long and chequered history. While human activity is undoubtedly driving the climate crisis, population growth is a red herring. Already this has prompted worry about whether there will be enough food, water and energy to support our growing population. The world’s population is expected to hit 8 billion people on November 15, according to the UN.
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