Wave banner

News from Population Matters.

  • Old ride banner

    Report: Ageing populations are good

    A new opinion paper published in Trends in Ecology & Evolution argues that societies should embrace ageing populations instead of fearing them. The authors demonstrate multiple socio-economic and environmental benefits of shrinking, ageing populations…

  • Power station pollution banner

    IPCC report: we need net zero by 2050

    A crucial new report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) says limiting global warming to 1.5°C requires “rapid and far-reaching” economic transitions. Disappointingly, the report does not call for…

  • UK Population banner

    Sir David Attenborough: we must act on population

    Population Matters patron Sir David Attenborough was interviewed on the BBC’s Newsnight this week, where he once again spoke out about our unsustainable population growth and the urgent need to address it….

  • Peoples

    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….

  • Sierra Leone woman with baby banner

    Tanzanian president: “birth control is for the lazy”

    UPDATE 25 September 2018 Since this story was written, the Tanzanian government has ordered a US health charity to withdraw television advertisements promoting family planning. This worrying development suggests that…

  • hedgehog banner

    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…

  • Korean women banner

    Egypt seeks fewer babies: South Korea wants more

    Egypt’s government has announced welcome plans to curb its rapid population growth as part of its 2018-2022 medium-term sustainable development plan. Meanwhile, South Korea is adopting policies to increase its…

  • Chinese kids banner

    China may move to end two-child policy

    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…

  • Houses by river banner

    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’…

  • Forest water falls banner

    Why isn’t one Earth enough?

    Today is Earth Overshoot Day – the symbolic day in the year when we have exceeded the Earth’s capacity to sustain us. Just seven months into 2018, according to calculations…