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Population Matters resource library

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. Use the search filters below to refine your search, or browse more than 100 papers and documents. You can also find past editions of the Population Matters members' magazine

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Journal of Population and Sustainability

As part of our commitment to research in the field, Population Matters also publishes the editorially independent Journal of Population and Sustainability, exploring all aspects of the relationship between human numbers and environmental issues.

Journal of Population and Sustainability

Water challenges in the world and the UK

Briefings and submissions

Freshwater is not an unlimited resource, and the world has seen its water consumption levels rise rapidly in the past hundred years.

Population and food security

Briefings and submissions

‘End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture by 2030.’ The world set itself a considerable challenge in the Sustainable Development Goals.

World population

The benefits of smaller families

Briefings and submissions

Dominant cultural norms often influence couples in their choice of family size. Depending on the context, this decision can be traced to religious, cultural or socio- economic reasons, such as the need for support in old age.

However, it is proven that a family size of two or fewer children provides many benefits both to the parents and the children.

The feminist case for smaller families

Briefings and submissions

More and more women are choosing to have smaller families.1 Many are choosing to forego having children entirely. Such choices have been criticised in the past, but attitudes are changing as more people come to see the benefits of having smaller families or living a childfree life.

Family planning

Ending child poverty in the UK through smaller families

Briefings and submissions

World population

Teenage pregnancy in England and Wales

Briefings and submissions

Teenage pregnancy rates in England and Wales are at their lowest point since records began. This is due, primarily, to government action, which has improved the provision of sex and relationships education (SRE) and increased access to contraception for young people.

Family planning

Asserting family-size choice

Briefings and submissions

An increasing number of people are choosing to have smaller families, while many others decide to forego having children entirely. While the choice to remain childless remains subject to a lot of criticism, the topic of voluntary childlessness is increasingly up for debate.

Family planning

The financial case for smaller families

Briefings and submissions

The average cost of raising a child in the UK has risen dramatically over the last decade. Excluding housing, it now costs, on average, almost a quarter of a million pounds to raise a child from birth to age 21.

Why family size varies in England and Wales

Briefings and submissions

Of the latest group of women in England and Wales to have reached the end of their childbearing years, four in five have had children. The majority of these women have two or more children, women are now as likely to be childless as to have three children, and one in every ten women has four or more children.

Small families produce big green gains

World population will have more than doubled from 2.5 billion in 1950 to 6.8bn by 2009, in less than a lifetime, and is set to grow by another 2.4bn to reach 9.2bn in

20501.

Family planning

Why population matters for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds

Briefings and submissions

On its website, the RSPB states,

‘We are creating a world rich in nature’.

That is an ambitious
and admirable statement – but, unfortunately, not one that is generally accurate.

Why population matters for Friends of the Earth

Briefings and submissions

Friends of the Earth’s declared mission is to: “Make life better for people by inspiring solutions to environmental problems”.

Why population matters for the Campaign to Protect Rural England

Briefings and submissions

The Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) is one of the leading conservation organisations in England – focused, as its name states, on the protection, sustainable use and enjoyment of England’s countryside in particular.

The adverse environmental impact of animal agriculture

Briefings and submissions

The animal agriculture sector occupies 30 per cent of the earth’s ice-free surface, provides a means of livelihood to more than 1.3 billion people and contributes 40 per cent of global agricultural gross domestic product.

Energy consumption in the UK and the world

Briefings and submissions

Larger populations, industrial developments and more wealth have increased energy demand greatly. Currently, the world relies predominantly on fossil fuels that are not only harmful for our environment but are also limited in supply.

Population growth exacerbates flood risk

Briefings and submissions

Population growth increases both the likelihood and the potential impact of flooding by increasing the pressure on sewer systems and prompting urban expansion into areas at high risk of flooding.

Human population reduction is not a quick fix for environmental problems

Briefings and submissions

How much environmental pressure can family planning avert? – A commentary on projections by Bradshaw and Brook

Waste in the UK and the world

Briefings and submissions

While waste disposal was once a local concern, today it is a global challenge. The consumption of finite resources, and the damaging of the earth in the processes of mineral extraction, pollution and waste management, transcend borders. 1

Natural amenities in the UK

Natural amenities are beneficial to humanity in many ways. They contribute economically, socially and environmentally to our lives. Losing these free services would inflict great costs on our society.

Resource security

Briefings and submissions

Resources are fundamental for maintaining and improving our quality of life. Although the role of fossil fuels for the generation of energy is often highlighted, the essential role of metals, minerals, rocks and biotic materials is much less discussed. Nevertheless, non-energy raw materials are widely used.