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: World population

News from Population Matters.

  • Africa: Demographic dividend or population disaster?

    By 2050, more than half of the anticipated growth in global population is expected to occur in Africa. While some leaders see this as an economic opportunity, others can sense a…

  • UK population growth highest in 70 years

    Last week, the Office for National Statistics released its mid-2016 Population Estimates for UK, England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. These statistics reveal that the number of people residing in…

  • 16bn or 7.3bn in 2100? New UN figures say both possible

    The United Nations has today released new projections for global population growth up until 2100. Issued every two years, the projections for 2017 show slight increases over those produced in…

  • Report: Population key to controlling climate change

    Analysis undertaken for a comprehensive new plan to reverse global warming, Drawdown, has identified family planning and educating girls as among the top 10 workable solutions available today. Together, they would…

  • Sydney hits 5 million as Australia continues to grow

    Australia’s two biggest cities – Melbourne and Sydney – account for more than half of the country’s population growth, new statistics for 2015-16 show. With Melbourne now its fastest growing city, sprawling…

  • Is the Pope heeding warnings about population?

    According to an unconfirmed report, Pope Francis has urged people to have fewer children in order to address environmental concerns. However, the Catholic Church’s opposition to artificial contraception remains in…

  • 18 million Chinese babies since end of one child policy

    The Chinese government has released figures for births in 2016, the first full year since the end of the country’s one child policy. The 18m number is 7.9% above the number…

  • Chris Packham speaks out on impact of population

    The Times published an edited version of this article on 9 January 2017. Here is the piece in full.  Population growth is stifling our green and pleasant land by Population Matters…

  • Panic and pragmatism: population in Korea and Japan

    South Korea’s official statistics agency has just announced that it expects the country’s population to shrink by 8 million over the next 50 years. Currently around  50 million, the agency…

  • WWF: we are facing the next global mass extinction

    The 2016 Living Planet report published by WWF today pulls no punches in describing the devastation to our natural world caused by human activity. The report calculates that by 2020 populations of…