Resource hub

Population Matters has been conducting research and producing briefings and government submissions for more than 20 years. You can use this page to find resources on a wide variety of population and environmental subjects.

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Note: Documents published by Population Matters in the past may not reflect current policies or positions.

Resources

Population Matters Annual Report 2017-18

Population Matters Magazine Autumn 2018

Read an interview with our patron Leilani Munter, about our World Population Day mobile population counter and more.

World Population Day Global Statement & Call to Action

Twenty-six years ago, 1,700 of the world’s leading scientists urged humankind to curtail environmental destruction and improve our stewardship of the Earth, in order to attain a sustainable future. In 2017, the Alliance of World Scientists published a Second Warning to Humanity, supported by over 20,000 scientists in 184 countries, pointing to runaway consumption of limited resources by a still rapidly growing population

Letter to Natural History Museum

We are writing to you as a group of concerned zoologists, natural historians and conservationists – who are also variously patrons, trustees or staff members of Population Matters, which advocates that both the factors of human population and consumption patterns need to be taken into account when considering the sustainable future of our planet.

Welcome to the Anthropocene Briefing

Illustrated four-page briefing detailing the impact of human population on the planet.

Response to Inquiry into Intergenerational fairness

Intergenerational fairness is a welfare issue because the functioning of the welfare state relies on an intergenerational social contract.

Response to the Domestic Implementation of the SDGs Inquiry of the Environmental Audit Committee

The Government should consider population stabilisation policies to enable the successful implementation of the SDGs

THE DEMOGRAPHY OF SCOTLAND AND THE IMPLICATIONS FOR DEVOLUTION

Scotland’s population is growing, but more slowly and ageing more quickly than the remainder of the United Kingdom.

Royal Society Study on Population

Indefinite growth in anything physical on a physically finite planet is self-evidently physically impossible.

Response to International Development Committee Inquiry on SDGs

DFID should prioritise SDG 3 (ensure health and wellbeing) and SDG 5 (achieve gender equality and women’s empowerment).

The cost of population growth in the UK

Each additional person requires £165,000 to be spent on housing, infrastructure, equipment and training, to extend to them the services, living standard and employment opportunities of current UK residents

The UK in 2050

While economic changes, urbanisation, technological advancement and environmental degradation all influence consumption and resource-availability, population growth determines the severity of the influence of each factor.

Public Health Cuts

Following the announcement of £200 million cuts to public health in the UK, we examine the potential impact of these cuts on sexual and reproductive health (SRH).

Public services in the UK

In this briefing, the challenges faced by both public services, and the consequences this has for society, will be explored.

Teenage pregnancy

One in six pregnancies in the UK is unintended and teenage pregnancy rates are the highest in Western Europe.

Population and Resource Security

As the world is faced with other more pressing challenges, resource security is gradually diminishing.

How population growth affects poverty reduction

Unsustainable population growth impedes women’s empowerment, redirects government and household resources away from investment and limits job opportunities, while also lowering wages for those limited jobs.

Water

Availability of fresh water is already a key resource issue for people in many parts of the world, and one which any increase inhuman population can only magnify. A

Position Statement

Current population growth is both undesirable and unsustainable.

Response to IDC Inquiry on Humanitarian Emergencies

Increasing access to, and use of, family planning services both generally and in the context of humanitarian emergencies can very significantly reduce the impact of crises on children.