Almost everyone acknowledges that the world’s population is growing dangerously fast. Almost no one seems to be doing anything about it. This piece is an attempt to understand why.

The numbers are worth sitting with for a moment.

For 200,000 years, the human population stayed below one billion. It crossed two billion in 1927, three billion by 1960, and stands roughly at eight billion today — with no signs of stopping.

By 2050, the world population is projected to cross 10 billion, surpassing what scientists estimate the Earth can sustainably support. A University of Washington professor of statistics and sociology, Adrian Raftery, states that “there’s a 70 percent probability the world population will not stabilise this century.”

Most of this growth — over 80 percent — is projected to occur in Africa and Asia, the world’s poorest regions, compounding existing inequality. As a result, the number of people living in poverty could increase substantially.

The world’s population has quadrupled in less than a century, yet concern about population growth largely remains on the backburner. Why?

The world’s population has quadrupled in less than a century, yet concern about population growth largely remains on the backburner. Why?

Experts point out that the problem is not numbers alone. The consumption patterns of wealthy populations — disproportionate use of resources, carbon output, waste — compound the damage. By 2050, oceans could contain more plastic than fish by weight.

In November 2017, more than 15,000 scientists from 184 countries signed a joint statement calling rapid population growth the ‘primary driver’ of ecological and societal........

© Dawn (Magazines)