The Overpopulation Project
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Too many people consuming too much
Category: Family Planning
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Coercion and population policies, Part 2 – the remarkable case of Peru
The unsustainable growth of the global population needs to be halted through informed voluntary action. Coercive population policies such as those used in China are unacceptable. On the other hand, many millions of women and couples around the world face pro-natalist forms of coercion, such as being forced to give birth to unwanted children, in…
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Earth Wars: Nature Strikes Back
The current pandemic has had many severe consequences, but it has also acted as a reminder of the need for international cooperation when facing global challenges. Continued environmental destruction will likely increase the risk for future pandemics. Population growth is one of the main driving factors of the continued encroachment into nature and needs to…
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From bodily autonomy back to family planning
In its recent report State of World Population 2021 the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) highlights bodily autonomy as a universal right. Of course, nobody in a civilised society would object against this position. However, by limiting the notion to the domain of gender-based violence and harmful practices such as child marriage, female genital mutilation,…
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Demographers fail to acknowledge the effect of population growth on climate change
A recently published article asked European demographers about their attitudes towards climate change and population growth. It shows that while most demographers are in agreement on the need to act on climate change, the effect of population growth is largely not understood. By The Overpopulation Project An article published in March this year in the…
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IUCN recognizes the importance of attending to population to preserve biodiversity
After decades of silence, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature has passed a motion reaffirming the importance of addressing population matters to achieving conservation success. This continues a welcome recent trend among conservation scientists to speak up about the potential benefits of reining in population growth. by Pernilla Hansson The International Union for…
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Humanity needs to halt both population growth and climate change
Many of today’s environmental problems are more due to population growth than climate change, and climate change is driven in part by continued global population growth. Development funding to make family planning and modern contraceptives universally available could make a big difference in solving these interlocking problems. By Malte Andersson, Frank Götmark, and Anders Wijkman…
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Rights and responsibilities in population policy
A robust account of human responsibility, applied to humanity’s economic and demographic decisions, is the missing link in environmentalists’ endeavors to save our planet. Contemporary humanity has been misled by promises of rights without responsibilities, win/win solutions, and individual success without discipline or concern for the common good. “Back to basics” should be our battle…
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Another productive year at TOP
The Overpopulation Project (TOP) is a small organization, consisting of just a few individuals, but with strong motivations and much experience (see ‘About us’). We are independent researchers, not bound to any political or ideological agenda. Conducting research and outreach on overpopulation and its tragic consequences, and explaining solutions to this problem, are our main…
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Human Rights and Population Policy
Like all government policies, population policies should respect human rights. But what does that mean in practice? Putting reproductive rights in the larger context of creating just and sustainable societies provides the best framework for answering that question correctly. by Philip Cafaro Issues concerning human rights loom large in population debates. On the one hand,…
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Pay Attention, Healthcare Workers!
Doctors have played a vital role in lowering mortality and increasing human life span and well-being. While representing a humanitarian success, this achievement has also contributed to a rapid increase in human numbers. In 1972, 52 physicians took responsibility for their role in this success and signed a call for action against overpopulation, through education,…
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Why global support for contraception is critical in the pandemic age
Saturday, September 26th is World Contraception Day. This key date is a reminder that access to affordable contraception and reproductive health services is a fundamental human right across the globe. Furthermore, family planning and reproductive autonomy (particularly in the Global South), together with lowering our personal environmental impacts (particularly in the Global North) is fundamental…
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Population growth and climate change: environmental threat multipliers – a new publication from TOP
The Overpopulation Project is pleased to announce its most recent publication, “Population growth and climate change: Addressing the overlooked threat multiplier” published in Science of the Total Environment. Through a review of national and global studies, the paper describes the emission reduction and vulnerability reduction benefits of slowing population growth, and outlines policies that can…
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Climate refugees or overpopulation escapees?
In recent years, migrants fleeing overpopulation and lack of economic opportunity have been rebranded as “climate refugees” by corporate media looking to justify open borders. But expanding migration will simply fuel continued population growth, leading to greater resource consumption, higher greenhouse gas emissions and worse climate change. It’s a Ponzi scheme perpetuated by falsehoods that’s…
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Will global population peak below 10 billion?
A major media storm has erupted about a new scientific paper published in the Lancet claiming that global population will soon peak and decline. The prospect is met with doom and gloom, rather than jubilation. But Jane O’Sullivan finds many reasons to challenge both the claim and its assumed economic threat. By escalating unfounded fears…
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Drawdown: a review of the Review
By Jane O’Sullivan Hats off to Paul Hawken, the environmentalist behind Project Drawdown. Three years ago, he published a best-selling book, ‘Drawdown: the most comprehensive plan ever proposed to reverse global warming’. The concept was brilliantly simple. It stripped away the complexity of how to respond to climate change, by cataloguing the hundred most impactful…
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Fertility levels in global regions and countries: what is the role of religion?
Population growth depends strongly on fertility rates, so it is important to study factors that determine fertility. Despite much research, there is no consensus about the most important factors involved, except that contraceptive use can be effective. Factors correlated with declining as well as increasing or high fertility should be studied simultaneously. Religiosity is potentially…
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The Catholic Church and contraception
With continued global population growth, contraception and conscious planning for children remain critical moral issues facing today’s families, no matter where they are living. Different religions have different views on birth control, and their official teachings influence millions of people’s fertility decisions. Below we take a closer look at the evolution of the Catholic viewpoint…
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Five myths about population, aging and environmental sustainability
By Jane O’Sullivan, Francesco Ricciardi, Susann Roth For sustainable development, universal wellbeing should be the goal, rather than endless growth. Minimizing further growth in human populations is only part of the solution, but an essential part. Climate change has been described as one of the greatest challenges of our time. But for many Asian countries,…
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TOP wraps up 2019 and prepares for the new decade
by Phil Cafaro and Frank Götmark Greetings! It’s been a busy year here at The Overpopulation Project. As many of you know, we have an active website, with a new blog almost every week and more invited authors this year. The total number of visitors to our website was 84,848 in 2019, and average monthly…
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Introducing The Overpopulation Project Video Series # 1: The Usefulness of Foreign Aid
The Overpopulation Project is proud to present the first video in our four-part interview mini-series, an interview with Carl Wahren, a population professional with more than 30 years of experience in various multilateral organizations. Carl was a pioneer in introducing family planning programs in developing countries in the 1960’s, programs supported by the government and…
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An integrated climate change response: the role of population
In April, TOP researchers organized a climate change seminar as part of the Gothenburg International Science Festival. Guest speakers were invited to discuss the role of population, affluence and technology in climate change solutions. The first presentation highlights how addressing population is a necessary measure to successfully mitigate and adapt to climate disruption. A recording…
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Ten things that you may not know about population
Articles about population in the media typically are riddled with misconceptions and tiptoe around taboos. Moving past these can free us to have open and honest discussions about population matters. The following list does not pretend to be exhaustive, but to help debunk the most common myths and become more aware of the complexity of…
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More and more people living on the planet is cause for concern
TOP assisting researcher, Patrícia Dérer, was recently interviewed for the Hungarian newspaper, 444. The article, shortened and translated to English, includes highlights from her interview where she discusses the conditional nature of population projections, the link between population and biodiversity, the declining population of eastern Europe, successful family planning programs, and much more. By Zsolt…
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Fix the climate with smaller families
Carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions are at an all time high. That growth tracks explosive world population growth, which is the greatest driver of climate change and a threat multiplier. The Green New Deal has justifiably generated excitement and enthusiasm among people who believe its goal of cutting greenhouse-gas emissions to net zero over 10 years is…
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Civilization extinguishing biodiversity, where are the viable alternatives?
A new United Nations report on biodiversity was released this week with much media coverage. Scientists and mainstream journalists seem unwilling to address the fundamental drivers of biodiversity decline, but public response suggests transformative change is gaining traction. By Jenna Dodson This week, many media outlets are covering the pre-release of a new United Nations…
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Review of “Empty Planet: The Shock of Global Population Decline” Part 1
By John McKeown Empty Planet moves confidently from an optimistic premise to unwarranted conclusions. It has been reviewed favourably by Steven Pinker, The Wall Street Journal and the New Statesman, among others. Its premise is that world population will peak far lower and sooner than the UN forecasts, and that because of a faster-than-expected decline in…
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Overpopulation during my lifetime of eighty years
With a focus on fifty-six years of advising governments on policies and programs to achieve population stabilization By Bob Gillespie, President, Population Communication In 1938, when I was born, the global population was 2.2 billion. Today there are 7.7 billion. A child born today, who lives to 80, will witness 5.5 billion more deaths of humans…
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“Karin Kuhlemann on Overpopulation”: Associated Researcher of TOP Team Featured Guest on Podcast
Karin Kuhlemann and host Thomas Hornigold tackle the complex discussion of overpopulation in a recent episode of Physical Attraction. In a refreshingly comprehensive dialogue, Thomas Hornigold and Karin Kuhlemann approach the conversation from a practical perspective, focusing on the best way to frame the overpopulation discussion, with an emphasis on potential solutions. Using helpful analogies,…
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Recent blog posts
- The Most Appropriate Response to Falling Birthrates? Embrace Them
- New paper defends a pragmatic definition of overpopulation
- Because everyone else is (not) doing it: How social pressures may be the key to understand family size preferences
- The Psychology of our Strange Overpopulation Taboo
- Goodbye Paul Ehrlich
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Gallery of infographics – Learn more about overpopulation and environment
