Global Population: From Explosion to Implosion?

The planet has some new patterns in population: Elders now outnumber the young, more people live in cities than in the country and more people live in nations where fertility rates fall below the replacement rate for population. But population continues to grow, and the increases predicted for later in this century will be a major historical event, with more than 9 billion people expected to inhabit the world by 2050. Inequities in age, resources as basic as food and water, and social protections will lead to attempts at mass migration and conflicts. Population control will bring stabilization. “We have no choice but to work for equitable growth and development founded on intelligence, science, technology and a change in our ways of living, producing and consuming,” writes Koïchiro Matsuura, director general of Unesco, for the Mail & Guardian. He concludes that the greatest priority is education – “especially the education of girls, the best contraceptive of all.” – YaleGlobal