Överbefolkning (=overpopulation) generated no hits on the Internet for the Swedish government, state agencies, municipalities, or environmental organisations. In Sweden, the concept överbefolkning seems to be neglected by those in power as part of a culture of silence, though hits from Swedish media might indicate a change.
by Dag Lindgren
Overpopulation generates numerous negative effects on resources and our environment, as explored on this website and its blogs. There is a substantial risk that those born today will experience a worse future, compared to present generations. The word overpopulation is at the centre of TOP’s work. Given its importance, I decided to investigate if and where the concept is used in my country. Hopefully, this blog inspires comments or research about the acceptance of the term “overpopulation” in other countries.
My approach, counting Internet hits for important actors in Swedish public discourse (politicians, government agencies and media) seems simple, but the technique is time-consuming and differs among actors. They may, for example, have other websites than their main one, where the word overpopulation could occur, or they may write about population growth but not use the word overpopulation (thus avoiding and downgrading the problem). For some actors, I made direct inquiries, which however did not result in new information.
Not mentioning that overpopulation and population growth lead to an overcrowded world and more environmental problems is dangerous; it means hiding information from citizens which is within reach, and which they can act upon. This is obvious to me, and many may agree – but how many? Do any important actors use the term overpopulation?
Categories of actors
The websites of the following Swedish actors were analysed:
Government and national agencies; five, under direct political control: National Government, Ministry for Foreign Affairs, National Agency for Education, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida).
Municipalities (Swedish “Kommun”); the six largest with respect to population, under control of elected politicians.
Environmental non-governmental organisations (NGO’s); three large ones that describe the negative influence of humans on nature, all influential in Swedish media: the Society for Nature Conservation, World Wildlife Fund (WWF), and Greenpeace.
Daily newspapers; three large ones for which it was possible to seek the word “överbefolkning” digitally, by page; Dagens Nyheter, Svenska Dagbladet and Aftonbladet.
Universities; Five, the four oldest/largest and the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences.
Beside Internet hits for “överbefolkning”, I searched hits for “invasiva arter” (=invasive species) for a comparison with another environmental issue often discussed in Sweden. One may list, as recently suggested in TOP, also Homo sapiens as an invasive species, but I expected no such mentions.
No hits among the most important actors
As is clear from the table below, not a single hit was recorded for the websites of the government, its national agencies, and municipalities. Thus, the major actors for political decisions in Sweden seem to hide information about overpopulation.
As expected, these actors, including the national government, acknowledged the problem of invasive species, which is mainly caused by human trade and travelling. Increasingly dense and less green cities in Sweden, and growing national and global populations, might have motivated the use of “överbefolkning”. But even Sida, which through international aid supports countries where overpopulation is often discussed, obtained no hits. With respect to environmental NGO’s, it may come as a surprise that they do not use the term overpopulation, but the Swedish NGOs are no exception to other western countries in this respect. Occasionally, overpopulation is mentioned at universities. Finally, in one little bright spot, one hundred hits for overpopulation were recorded for the Swedish newspapers over the last five years.
Changes over time
The three daily newspapers contained most of the hits among surveyed actors, although the number of course is low compared to other subjects often in the news. The largest paper, Dagens Nyheter, a prominent liberal one, was studied over 75 years, see graph below. Överbefolkning was frequently mentioned 1966 – 1980, and in the early 90’s (perhaps due to UN’s Population Conference in Cairo). Then hits declined, probably influenced by Hans Rosling articles and interviews in Dagens Nyheter at the time. It is interesting, however, that mention of Överbefolkning increased in 2016 – 2025.
Judging from pages and text where “överbefolkning” occurred in the three newspapers, most hits did not consider the whole world, or fast-growing regions such as Africa. It could be historic incidents, fiction, or reminders of bad incidents, often concerning cities or groups of cities. Most hits discounted the importance of overpopulation. Few hits in recent years directly related overpopulation to common environmental problems.
Despite rapid global and national population growth, the three major environmental organisations in Sweden did not use the term overpopulation on their websites. This is impossible to understand other than by psychological factors; apparently, journalists worry that readers will react negatively if the term is used, influenced by our culture of silence. It seems contagious.
Yet, the slight increase in use of “överbefolkning” in Dagens Nyheter over the last ten years might suggest their journalists increasingly have the word in mind, perhaps partly due to at least 15 Op-Ed’s and other articles discussing population growth and overpopulation in Dagens Nyheter since 2015. These were written by people in Nätverket Population Matters Sweden and also by two of the newspaper’s own journalists. Here is one example from Dagens Nyheter, an Op-Ed translated to English on Covid and how population growth increases the risk of serious pandemics.
Finally, the contrast with TOP is stark; here overpopulation is mentioned about 650 times per year in articles and comments. Let’s hope the word will spread in other media, and to politicians, in the future.
Dag Lindgren is a retired professor of forest genetics, earlier employed at the Swedish Agricultural University. He is also a member of Strömstads Akademi in Sweden, where he has a website and blog about Överbefolkning.
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