Crowd of people throng Dadar market to shop ahead of Ganapati festival in Mumbai, India, 2022/08/28. Photo Credit: SOPA Images/Getty Images
Society The WorldPopulation Grows at Most Sustainable Rate in 70 Years
The United Nations (UN) latest World Population Prospects report that the global population has been increasing at its slowest rate since the 1950s.
“Without any totalitarian or coercive measures, populations will start declining. On the whole, we are much better positioned for sustainable growth than it looked in 1950,” says Vox.
The UN report concludes that population growth fell to less than 1% in 2020, mainly due to declines in fertility rates across several countries. The world is still expected to hit a major milestone later this year: a global population of over eight billion. The UN Secretary-General António Guterres welcomes the milestone, saying it is an occasion to “celebrate our diversity, recognize our common humanity, and marvel at advancements in health.”
The concern would be if the population hits more than 10 billion people, as Hamish Mcrae of I news questions: “Can the world feed more than 10 billion people without intolerable strains on the planet’s resources?” Yet, thankfully, the UN’s latest report shows that the world is actually in a better position population-wise than previously projected and that overpopulation fears may just be unfounded.