Blog

February 5, 2024 | Post

A 1970s publication caused a big stir when it showed that continuing on business-as-usual population and consumption growth trajectories would likely lead to societal collapse within a century. Were the scientists behind it right? A major scientific warning If you’re a Population Connection supporter, you’re most likely familiar with The…...

January 16, 2024 | Post

Media stories on “baby busts” and “population collapse” abound, fueled by the fearmongering of pronatalist influencers who believe birth rates are too low. As a result, many people erroneously think our global population is in freefall, or even that humanity is heading towards extinction because people are having smaller families.…...

December 29, 2023 | Post

Dear reader, as environmental and humanitarian news is generally very depressing, I wanted my final blog post of 2023 to be a summary of major global trends that are moving in the right direction. Collecting examples proved harder than anticipated, because for many widely touted success stories, progress has sadly…...

December 19, 2023 | Post

Following two weeks of negotiations, the COP28 climate conference attended by delegates from almost 200 nations wrapped up in Dubai on Wednesday, December 13. Let’s take a quick look at what was agreed upon. For those with short attention spans, here’s a tl;dr: Is the COP28 agreement sufficient to meet…...

December 12, 2023 | Post

With birth rates declining across the world as women gain more choices over their bodies and lives, governments and certain influencers are increasingly expressing concern over a supposed shortage of babies. Pronatalism (aka natalism), a political ideology that promotes childbirth, is gaining traction, and in its most conservative forms, presents…...

December 1, 2023 | Post

How much do different countries, sectors, and income groups contribute to climate change? Who are the biggest culprits? What are the top climate solutions? You might think you already know the answers to these questions, but you may be surprised. As this year’s most important international climate meeting kicks off…...

November 16, 2023 | Post

A new study is the first to empirically investigate the relationship between climate change concern and family size. The findings indicate that, unsurprisingly, increased concern is typically associated with less positive attitudes toward reproduction and an intention to have fewer or no children, but there are some interesting exceptions. Small…...

November 3, 2023 | Post

World leaders are failing abysmally on climate change mitigation, with global emissions continuing to increase, when what is needed to prevent catastrophic warming is a drastic reduction. Two new studies estimate that at current carbon emission rates, we will breach the critical 1.5°C threshold before 2030. In addition, a UN…...

October 31, 2023 | Post

The New York Times recently published an article about population growth and the young age structure in sub-Saharan Africa. One of our board members, Melvine Ouyo, responded with a letter to the editor which we are featuring here as the Times did not publish it. We encourage all our members…...

October 23, 2023 | Post

Degrowth, an environmental ideology that seeks to replace our current growth-based economic systems, has been gaining traction in recent years. Let’s explore what degrowth proponents aim to achieve and how this fits in with the goal of ending human population growth. The origins of degrowth The term ‘degrowth’ (translated from…...