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.

British diver Rich Horner captured film of himself swimming through plastic and waste. Long deeply concerned about the environment and population,he contacted PM to let us know he is a supporter and to offer us use of the video to spread the population message. 

At Population Matters we commend Hans Rosling as a brilliant communicator and a person dedicated to improving the lives of people across the world. In that spirit, we offer the following facts, which run counter to Prof Rosling’s popular but shakily founded position that population isn’t a problem and future population growth will effectively sort itself out.

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 reduce CO2 emissions by 120 gigatons by 2050 — more than onshore and offshore wind power combined.

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 place.

Population Matters supports international efforts to defend family planning following the Trump administration’s ban on overseas aid for organisations providing abortion or information about it. Please join the campaign.

On 23 January 2017, family planning services worldwide received a blow when President Trump reinstated and expanded, the ‘Global Gag Rule’. The policy stipulates that no US overseas aid money will be given to any organisation providing abortions or information about abortion.