Read our latest news stories and blog posts about population matters around the world.
7 December 2018
How to feed the world without destroying it
A new report investigates the enormous challenge of feeding our rapidly growing population without further damaging our environment and worsening climate change.
Population Matters' Patron, Sir David Attenborough, is fronting the 'People’s Seat' at the upcoming UN Climate Change Conference in Poland this December. The initiative offers the global public the opportunity to have a presence at discussions through social media.
Running to stand still? Meeting family planning targets.
A new report shows that despite progress, global targets set for the use of modern family planning in 2020 will be missed. Government inaction and international funding shortfalls are among the many barriers faced in some of the world's poorest countries.
What do declining global fertility rates really mean?
A new study has highlighted how fertility rates have declined over the last generation. There are no significant surprises in the report but it emphasises again the progress that has been made and the vast differences that exist between countries. Its conclusion that fertility has declined significantly is very far from a confirmation that we need not worry about population.
One of UK’s most high profile environmental campaigners is to become the new President of Population Matters. Former Green Party leader and director of Friends of the Earth, Jonathon Porritt has been a vocal advocate for population issues and will champion Population Matters’ work in his new role.
WWF International’s latest report on the state of the world’s wildlife once again shies away from addressing the ‘elephant in the room’. As one of the world’s most influential and popular environmental organisations, WWF is failing in its duty to confront the main driver of species decline: unsustainable human population pressure.
The new State of the World Population 2018 report published by the United Nations Population Fund highlights the importance of having the power to choose the timing, number, and spacing of children in order to promote global economic and social development.
Disappointingly, the report does not call for action on population but acknowledges that high population growth is a “key impediment” to reaching climate targets.
Population Matters patron Sir David Attenborough was interviewed on the BBC’s Newsnight, where he once again spoke out about our unsustainable population growth and the urgent need to address it.
Ten thousand walk for Britain’s disappearing wildlife
Last Saturday, Population Matters joined ten thousand people from across the UK who flocked to London for a ground-breaking event: the biggest march for wildlife the country has ever seen.
Tanzanian president: “birth control is for the lazy”
President Magufuli was speaking at a rally when he called on people to ignore advice on using birth control as it was coming from “foreigners with sinister motives”.
Wildlife under threat – UK hedgehog numbers plummet
A recent large-scale hedgehog survey across Britain’s rural areas found an alarmingly low number of animals, bolstering earlier research indicating a steep decline. An iconic animal in the UK, the decline in hedgehog numbers reflects disappearing biodiversity under human pressure.
Egypt’s government has announced welcome plans to curb its rapid population growth. Meanwhile, South Korea is adopting policies to increase its birth rate.
The Chinese government may be steering away from its two-child policy amid concerns over the economic effects of a shrinking birth rate. These rumours were sparked by a social media post from China’s state-run Procuratorate Daily.
Population growth puts green belts under housing pressure
A new report by the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) published earlier this month revealed that under current council policies, 460,000 new homes could be built on ‘green belt’ land in the UK, with 35,000 proposals submitted last year.
On World Population Day 2018, Population Matters took to the streets of London with a truck-mounted mobile digital display of the “population clock” – global population growth live.
Last November, 15,000 scientists urged governments to act to avoid what they bluntly called “widespread misery and catastrophic biodiversity loss” identifying population growth as a “primary driver”.
According to a national YouGov poll commissioned by Population Matters, 74% of UK adults believe the government should have a national strategy for addressing population.
