Counterintuitive

We Need More Population Growth

Seven billion is a lot, but birthrates are stalling dangerously.

The global population hit 7 billion on Monday, which is sure to send predictable alarms about the crowded planet. “Such forecasts, however, misrepresent underlying demographic dynamics,” writes Al Jazeera's Sajeev Sanyal. “The future we face is not one of too much population growth, but too little.” Population will continue growing until mid-century, but the trends will catch up: even the world’s most crowded countries are reducing their birthrates to the point that the global population will fall to the replacement rate in just a few decades. “These shifts have important implications for global labour supply.” The reduced population may be a good thing, but it will introduce a whole new set of problems.