By 1850, we had reproduced so successfully that in 200,000 years we had 1 billion people on Earth. The next billion came in 100 years. Now we add 1 billion people to the planet every 12 years!
In 2011 the world population reached 7 billion people.
As a species, we are a biological success story – we survive.
We are also a religious success story – we have gone forth and multiplied.
But now we have to stop… or it will be our downfall.
Every day we add 229,000 people to the planet. This is unsustainable… which means the world’s population has to stop growing.
The question is how? Will it stop over famine, disease, war over resources or will it stop growing because people choose to have smaller families?
Actress Alexandra Paul discusses her lifelong concern about human overpopulation and the fears we all have about discussing the issue. (January 2013)
The fastest and most efficient way to stabilise the world population is to send girls to school and to empower women. To give everyone access to an education on birth control.