Do we have to reduce global population to “save the planet”? Many people say that limiting population size is a priority for environmental sustain

Population and climate change

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2021-05-28 12:00:06

Do we have to reduce global population to “save the planet”? Many people say that limiting population size is a priority for environmental sustainability, several organizations have even been created to support this goal, and the debate regularly flares up in the ecologically-minded community. According to some studies, having a child is the worst thing one can do for the climate, by far. As a “green” individual, should one give up on having children, and feel guilty about the ones already born? How can we shed light on the subject and get closer to a rational answer? In this article we will investigate the links between climate¹ and population² ³.

From a first glance at the data it might look as though the world’s population is increasing faster and faster, like an exponential curve. Yet this is an optical illusion - or more often a misleading presentation. The growth rate⁴ of the world’s population has been steadily decreasing since 1970. UN projections estimate a stabilisation of the population around 2100 :

The population increases or decreases due to the difference between mortality and natality, measured by death and birth rates. It is stabilising because all countries (without exception so far) go through a process known as the “demographic transition”. Birth rates start high as a result of a cultural norm that ensures population stability in a world with high mortality. As living standards, hygiene and medical advances improve, mortality begins to fall. Birth rates follow suit with a delay, resulting in a rapid population increase.