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73-654: The Johannesburg Declaration builds on earlier declarations made at the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment at Stockholm in 1972, and the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. While committing the nations of the world to sustainable development , it also includes substantial mention of multilateralism as the path forward. In terms of the political commitment of parties,

146-712: A 2017 paper that since the Second World War, countries with higher population growth rates experienced the most social conflict. Some advocates have suggested societal problems such as hunger and mass unemployment are linked to overpopulation. According to anthropologist Jason Hickel , the global capitalist system creates pressures for population growth : "more people means more labour, cheaper labour, and more consumers." He and his colleagues have also demonstrated that capitalist elites throughout recent history have "used pro-natalist state policies to prevent women from practicing family planning" in order to grow

219-687: A combination of factors (including technological and social change) would allow global resources to meet this increased demand, avoiding global overpopulation. Additionally, some critics dismiss the idea of human overpopulation as a science myth connected to attempts to blame environmental issues on overpopulation, oversimplify complex social or economic systems, or place blame on developing countries and poor populations— reinscribing colonial or racist assumptions and leading to discriminatory policy. These critics often suggest overconsumption should be treated as an issue separate from population growth . World population has been rising continuously since

292-570: A consequence of overpopulation, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization , global food production exceeds increasing demand from global population growth. Food insecurity in some regions is attributable to the globally unequal distribution of food supplies. The notion that space is limited has been decried by skeptics, who point out that the Earth's population of roughly 6.8 billion people could comfortably be housed an area comparable in size to

365-504: A diminished quality of human life. Ecologist David Pimentel was one such proponent, saying "with the imbalance growing between population numbers and vital life sustaining resources, humans must actively conserve cropland, freshwater, energy, and biological resources. There is a need to develop renewable energy resources. Humans everywhere must understand that rapid population growth damages the Earth's resources and diminishes human well-being." Although food shortages have been warned as

438-452: A framework that ensures social integrity" to reduce the impact of "population growth on GHG emissions and biodiversity loss." In 2020, a quote from David Attenborough about how humans have "overrun the planet" was shared widely online and became his most popular comment on the internet. The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and Global Footprint Network have argued that the annual biocapacity of Earth has exceeded, as measured using

511-511: A global issue that some have linked to population growth. Colin Butler wrote in The Lancet in 1994 that overpopulation also has economic consequences for certain countries due to resource use. It was speculated by Aldous Huxley in 1958 that democracy is threatened by overpopulation, and could give rise to totalitarian style governments. Physics professor Albert Allen Bartlett at

584-512: A long history: Tertullian , a resident of the city of Carthage in the second century CE , criticized population at the time: "Our numbers are burdensome to the world, which can hardly support us... In very deed, pestilence, and famine, and wars, and earthquakes have to be regarded as a remedy for nations, as the means of pruning the luxuriance of the human race." Despite those concerns, scholars have not found historic societies that have collapsed because of overpopulation or overconsumption. By

657-620: A number of periods of growth since the dawn of civilization in the Holocene period, around 10,000 BCE. The beginning of civilization roughly coincides with the receding of glacial ice following the end of the Last Glacial Period . Farming allowed for the growth of populations in many parts of the world, including Europe, the Americas and China through the 1600s, occasionally disrupted by plagues or other crises. For example,

730-582: A population of six billion their biomass exceeded that of any other large land dwelling animal species that had ever existed by over 100 times. Inger Andersen , the executive director of the United Nations Environment Programme , stated in December 2022 as the human population reached a milestone of 8 billion and as delegates were meeting for the 2022 United Nations Biodiversity Conference , that "we need to understand that

803-430: A valid concern, argue that increased levels of resource consumption and pollution exceed the environment's carrying capacity , leading to population overshoot . The population overshoot hypothesis is often discussed in relation to other population concerns such as population momentum , biodiversity loss , hunger and malnutrition , resource depletion , and the overall human impact on the environment . Critics of

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876-442: A vehicle, forgoing air travel, and adopting a plant-based diet . However, even in countries that have both large population growth and major ecological problems, it is not necessarily true that curbing the population growth will make a major contribution towards resolving all environmental problems that can be solved simply with an environmentalist policy approach. Continued population growth and overconsumption, particularly by

949-491: A world when all humans are equal. " [REDACTED] Works related to Declaration of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment at Wikisource Human overpopulation Human overpopulation (or human population overshoot ) is the idea that human populations may become too large to be sustained by their environment or resources in the long term. The topic is usually discussed in

1022-664: Is "a primary driver behind many ecological and even societal threats." Ehlrich and other scientists at a conference in the Vatican on contemporary species extinction linked the issue to population growth in 2017, and advocated for human population control , which attracted controversy from the Catholic church . In 2019, a warning on climate change signed by 11,000 scientists from 153 nations said that human population growth adds 80 million humans annually, and "the world population must be stabilized—and, ideally, gradually reduced—within

1095-788: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . United Nations Conference on the Human Environment The United Nations Conference on the Human Environment was held in Stockholm , Sweden, during June 5–16, 1972. When the United Nations General Assembly decided to convene the 1972 Stockholm Conference, taking up the offer of the Government of Sweden to host it, UN Secretary-General U Thant invited Maurice Strong to lead it as Secretary-General of

1168-796: Is its effect on the environment. Some scientists suggest that the overall human impact on the environment during the Great Acceleration , particularly due to human population size and growth, economic growth , overconsumption, pollution , and proliferation of technology, has pushed the planet into a new geological epoch known as the Anthropocene . Biomass of mammals on Earth Some studies and commentary link population growth with climate change . Critics have stated that population growth alone may have less influence on climate change than other factors, such as greenhouse gas emissions per capita . The global consumption of meat

1241-600: Is predicted that the population of sub-Saharan Africa will double by 2050. The Pew Research Center predicts that 50% of births in the year 2100 will be in Africa. As an example of uneven prospects, the UN projects that Nigeria will gain about 340 million people, about the present population of the US, to become the 3rd most populous country, and China will lose almost half of its population. Concerns about population size or density have

1314-511: Is projected to rise by as much as 76% by 2050 as the global population increases, with this projected to have further environmental impacts such as biodiversity loss and increased greenhouse gas emissions. A July 2017 study published in Environmental Research Letters argued that the most significant way individuals could mitigate their own carbon footprint is to have fewer children, followed by living without

1387-896: The American Association for the Advancement of Science were concerned about population growth. In 2017, more than one-third of 50 Nobel prize-winning scientists surveyed by the Times Higher Education at the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings said that human overpopulation and environmental degradation are the two greatest threats facing mankind. In November that same year, the World Scientists' Warning to Humanity: A Second Notice , signed by 15,364 scientists from 184 countries, indicated that rapid human population growth

1460-478: The COVID-19 pandemic that epidemics and pandemics were made more likely by overpopulation, globalization , urbanization and encroachment into natural habitats. They both play a significant role impacting human populations, including widespread illness , death , and social disruption . While they can leave a temporary loss of population, it is followed by significant loss and suffering. These events are not

1533-575: The United Nations , eight billion as of November 2022. Some researchers have analyzed this growth in population like other animal populations, human populations predictably grow and shrink according to their available food supply as per the Lotka–Volterra equations , including agronomist and insect ecologist David Pimentel , behavioral scientist Russell Hopfenberg, and anthropologist Virginia Abernethy . World population has gone through

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1606-506: The United Nations Population Division issued in 2022 (see chart) projects that global population will peak around the year 2086 at about 10.4 billion, and then start a slow decline (the median line on the chart).  As with earlier projections, this version assumes that the global average fertility rate will continue to fall, but even further from 2.5 births per woman during the 2015–2020 period to 1.8 by

1679-562: The University of Colorado Boulder warned in 2000 that overpopulation and the development of technology are the two major causes of the diminution of democracy. However, over the last 200 years of population growth, the actual level of personal freedom has increased rather than declined. John Harte has argued population growth is a factor in numerous social issues, including unemployment , overcrowding , bad governance and decaying infrastructure. Daron Acemoglu and others suggested in

1752-516: The appropriateness of definitions being used (and often devolve into social scientists and biologists simply talking past each other ). Annual world population growth peaked at 2.1% in 1968, has since dropped to 1.1%, and could drop even further to 0.1% by 2100. Based on this, the United Nations projects the world population, which is 7.8 billion as of 2020 , to level out around 2100 at 10.9 billion with other models proposing similar stabilization before or after 2100. Some experts believe that

1825-454: The ecological footprint . In 2006, WWF's Living Planet Report stated that in order for all humans to live with the current consumption patterns of Europeans, we would be spending three times more than what the planet can renew. According to these calculations, humanity as a whole was using by 2006 40% more than what Earth can regenerate. Another study by the WWF in 2014 found that it would take

1898-561: The engineering of substitute goods and technology that better conserves and more efficiently uses natural resources, produces greater agricultural output with less land and less water, and addresses human impacts on the environment due to there being greater numbers of scientists, engineers, and inventors and subsequent generations of scientists overturning scientific paradigms maintained by previous generations of scientists . Instead, social scientists argue that disputes between themselves and biologists about human overpopulation are over

1971-458: The global south where most population growth happens. Modern proponents of the concept have suggested that overpopulation, population growth and overconsumption are interdependent and collectively are the primary drivers of human-caused environmental problems such as climate change and biodiversity loss . Many scientists have expressed concern about population growth, and argue that creating sustainable societies will require decreasing

2044-455: The 2022 UN projections overestimated fertility rates by 10 to 20% and are already outdated, that the global fertility rate has possibly already fallen below the sub-replacement fertility level for the first time in human history, and that the global population will peak at approximately 9.5 billion by 2061. The 2024 UN projections report estimated that world population would peak at 10.29 billion in 2084 and decline to 10.18 billion by 2100, which

2117-469: The 20th century did not materialize. In The Population Bomb , Ehrlich stated, "In the 1970s hundreds of millions of people will starve to death in spite of any crash programs embarked upon now," with later editions changing to "in the 1980s". Despite admitting some of his earlier predictions did not come to pass, Ehrlich continues to advocate that overpopulation is a major issue. As the profile of environmental issues facing humanity increased during

2190-551: The Black Death is thought to have reduced the world's population, then at an estimated 450 million in 1350, to between 350 and 375 million by 1400. After the start of the Industrial Revolution , during the 18th century, the rate of population growth began to increase. By the end of the century, the world's population was estimated at just under 1 billion. At the turn of the 20th century, the world's population

2263-645: The Conference, as the Canadian diplomat (under Pierre Trudeau ) had initiated and already worked for over two years on the project. The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) was created as a result of this conference. Sweden first suggested to the United Nations Economic and Social Council ECOSOC in 1968 the idea of having a UN conference to focus on human interactions with the environment. ECOSOC passed resolution 1346 supporting

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2336-782: The Declaration is a more general statement than the Rio Declaration. It is an agreement to focus particularly on "the worldwide conditions that pose severe threats to the sustainable development of our people, which include: chronic hunger; malnutrition; foreign occupation; armed conflict; illicit drug problems; organized crime; corruption; natural disasters; illicit arms trafficking; trafficking in persons; terrorism; intolerance and incitement to racial, ethnic, religious and other hatreds; xenophobia; and endemic, communicable and chronic diseases, in particular HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis." This sustainability -related article

2409-540: The UNEP would be the first UN agency to be based in a developing country. The meeting agreed upon a Declaration containing 26 principles concerning the environment and development , an Action Plan with 109 recommendations, and a Resolution. Principles of the Stockholm Declaration: One of the seminal issues that emerged from the conference is the recognition for poverty alleviation for protecting

2482-640: The United States delegation. So harsh was the criticism that Rogers Morton , at that time secretary of the interior, remarked "I wish the Russians were here", to divert the attention of the Chinese criticisms. China being a new member of the United Nations did not take part in the preparational talks. To include their views they reopened at the conference the declaration, which was negotiated at

2555-528: The belief note that human population growth is decreasing and the population will likely peak, and possibly even begin to decrease, before the end of the century. They argue the concerns surrounding population growth are overstated, noting that quickly declining birth rates and technological innovation make it possible to sustain projected population sizes. Other critics claim that overpopulation concerns ignore more pressing issues, like poverty or overconsumption , are motivated by racism, or place an undue burden on

2628-401: The coming decades, and advocated for policies to curb it. The Club of Rome published the influential report The Limits to Growth in 1972, which used computer modeling to similarly argue that continued population growth trends would lead to global system collapse. The idea of overpopulation was also a topic of some works of English-language science fiction and dystopian fiction during

2701-543: The conference due to the lack of inclusion of East Germany , which was not allowed to participate. Neither East or West Germany were members of the UN at that time, as they had not yet accepted each other as states (which they agreed upon later by signing the Basic Treaty in December 1972 ). The conference was not welcomed by countries like Britain, the US, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands and France, which formed

2774-408: The context of world population , though it may concern individual nations, regions, and cities. Since 1804, the global living human population has increased from 1 billion to 8 billion due to medical advancements and improved agricultural productivity . Annual world population growth peaked at 2.1% in 1968 and has since dropped to 1.1%. According to the most recent United Nations' projections ,

2847-777: The current global population. Advocates have suggested implementation of population planning strategies to reach a proposed sustainable population . Overpopulation hypotheses are controversial, with many demographers and environmentalists disputing the core premise that the world cannot sustain the current trajectory of human population. Additionally, many economists and historians have noted that sustained shortages and famines have historically been caused by war, price controls , political instability, and repressive political regimes (often employing central planning ) rather than overpopulation, and that population growth historically has led to greater technological development and advancement of scientific knowledge that has enabled

2920-785: The declaration of the Stockholm Conference. Some argue that this conference, and more importantly the scientific conferences preceding it, had a real impact on the environmental policies of the European Community (that later became the European Union ). For example, in 1973, the EU created the Environmental and Consumer Protection Directorate, and composed the first Environmental Action Program. Such increased interest and research collaboration arguably paved

2993-493: The early 19th century, intellectuals such as Thomas Malthus predicted that humankind would outgrow its available resources because a finite amount of land would be incapable of supporting a population with limitless potential for increase. During the 19th century, Malthus' work, particularly An Essay on the Principle of Population , was often interpreted in a way that blamed the poor alone for their condition and helping them

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3066-478: The end of 2022. by UN in 2017 Population projections are attempts to show how the human population might change in the future. These projections help to forecast the population's impact on this planet and humanity's future well-being. Models of population growth take trends in human development , and apply projections into the future to understand how they will affect fertility and mortality , and thus population growth . The most recent report from

3139-568: The end of the Black Death , around the year 1350. The fastest doubling of the world population happened between 1950 and 1986: a doubling from 2.5 to 5 billion people in 37 years, mainly due to medical advancements and increases in agricultural productivity . Due to its impact on the human ability to grow food, the Haber process enabled the global population to increase from 1.6 billion in 1900 to 7.7 billion by November 2018 and, according to

3212-413: The end of the 20th and the early 21st centuries, some have looked to population growth as a root cause. In the 2000s, E. O. Wilson and Ron Nielsen discussed overpopulation as a threat to the quality of human life. In 2011, Pentti Linkola argued that human overpopulation represents a threat to Earth's biosphere . A 2015 survey from Pew Research Center reports that 82% of scientists associated with

3285-513: The environment and accompanying increase in resource consumption threatens the world's ecosystems and the survival of human civilization. The InterAcademy Panel Statement on Population Growth , which was ratified by 58 member national academies in 1994, states that "unprecedented" population growth aggravates many environmental problems, including rising levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide , global warming , and pollution. Indeed, some analysts claim that overpopulation's most serious impact

3358-407: The environment. The Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in her seminal speech in the conference brought forward the connection between ecological management and poverty alleviation . The Stockholm Conference motivated countries around the world to monitor environmental conditions as well as to create environmental ministries and agencies. Despite these institutional accomplishments, including

3431-595: The equivalent of 1.5 Earths of bio-capacity to meet humanity's current levels of consumption. However, Roger Martin of Population Matters states the view: "the poor want to get rich, and I want them to get rich," with a later addition, "of course we have to change consumption habits,... but we've also got to stabilize our numbers". Critics have questioned the simplifications and statistical methods used in calculating ecological footprints. Therefore, Global Footprint Network and its partner organizations have engaged with national governments and international agencies to test

3504-614: The establishment of UNEP, the failure to implement most of its action programme has prompted the UN to have follow-up conferences. The succeeding United Nations Conference on Environment and Development convened in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 (the Rio Earth Summit), the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg and the 2012 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) all take their starting point in

3577-477: The future. The key messages are; "Redefine the relationship between humans and nature, achieve lasting prosperity for all, and invest in a better future." In addition, youth researchers issued a youth version of the report, called: "Charting a Youth Vision for a Just and Sustainable Future" also making some recommendations. The key messages are: "Health well being and communal solidarity, living in harmony with nature, international solidarity-living as one global family,

3650-431: The global human population is expected to reach 9.7 billion in 2050 and would peak at around 10.4 billion people in the 2080s, before decreasing, noting that fertility rates are falling worldwide. Other models agree that the population will stabilize before or after 2100. Conversely, other researchers have found that national birth registries data from 2022 and 2023 that cover half the world's population indicate that

3723-474: The global human population," sustainability can be achieved more rapidly with a short term focus on technological and social innovations, along with reducing consumption rates, while treating population planning as a long-term goal. However, most scientists believe that achieving genuine sustainability is a long-term project, and that addressing population and consumption levels are both essential to achieving it. In 1992, more than 1700 scientists from around

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3796-430: The growth of the human population caused encroachment in wild habitats which have led to their destruction, "posing a potential threat to biodiversity components". Some scientists and environmentalists, including Jared Diamond , E. O. Wilson , Jane Goodall and David Attenborough , contend that population growth is devastating to biodiversity . Wilson for example, has expressed concern when Homo sapiens reached

3869-514: The idea. General Assembly Resolution 2398 in 1969 decided to convene a conference in 1972 and mandated a set of reports from the UN secretary-general suggesting that the conference focus on "stimulating and providing guidelines for action by national government and international organizations" facing environmental issues. Preparations for the conference were extensive, lasting four years, including 114 governments, and costing over $ 30,000,000. The Soviet Union and other Warsaw Pact nations boycotted

3942-519: The latter part of the 1960s. The United Nations held the first of three World Population Conferences in 1974. Human population and family planning policies were adopted by some nations in the late 20th century in an effort to curb population growth, including in China and India . Albert Allen Bartlett gave more than 1,742 lectures on the threat of exponential population growth starting in 1969. However, many predictions of overpopulation during

4015-606: The more people there are, the more we put the Earth under heavy pressure. As far as biodiversity is concerned, we are at war with [the rest of] nature." Human overpopulation and continued population growth are also considered by some, including animal rights attorney Doris Lin and philosopher Steven Best , to be an animal rights issue, as more human activity means the destruction of animal habitats and more direct killing of animals. Some commentary has attributed depletion of non-renewable resources , such as land , food and water , to overpopulation and suggested it could lead to

4088-409: The most common estimate was 8 billion. Advocates of reduced population often put forward much lower numbers. Paul R. Ehrlich stated in 2018 that the optimum population is between 1.5 and 2 billion. In 2022 Ehrlich and other contributors to the "Scientists' warning on population", including Eileen Crist, William J. Ripple , William E. Rees and Christopher Wolf, stated that environmental analysts put

4161-570: The preparational talks, introducing text to counter language of the declaration regarding population as a threat to the environment and cause of its degradation . In 1972, environmental governance was not seen as an international priority, particularly for the Global South. Developing nations supported the creation of the UNEP, not because they supported environmental governance, but because of its headquarters' location in Nairobi , Kenya, as

4234-400: The process of reducing the total numbers. They suggested several possible approaches, including: There is good evidence from many parts of the world that when women and couples have the freedom to choose how many children to have, they tend to have smaller families.   Some scientists, such as Corey Bradshaw and Barry Brook, suggest that, given the "inexorable demographic momentum of

4307-552: The results—reviews have been produced by France, Germany, the European Commission, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Japan and the United Arab Emirates . Some point out that a more refined method of assessing Ecological Footprint is to designate sustainable versus non-sustainable categories of consumption. Attempts have been made to estimate the world's carrying capacity for humans; the maximum population

4380-453: The size of their workforce. Hickel has however argued that the cause of negative environmental impacts is resource extraction by wealthy countries. He concludes that "we should not ignore the relationship between population growth and ecology, but we must not treat these as operating in a social and political vacuum." A 2021 article in Ethics, Medicine and Public Health argued in light of

4453-602: The so-called Brussels Group and attempted to stifle the impact of the conference. At the conference itself, divisions between developed and developing countries began to emerge. The Chinese delegation issued a 17-point memorandum condemning United States policies in Indochina , as well as around the world. This stance emboldened other developing countries, which made up 70 of the 122 countries attending. Multiple countries including Pakistan , Peru , and Chile issued statements that were anti-colonial in nature, further worrying

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4526-408: The sole reason for overpopulation, but lack of access to family planning and reproductive contraptions, poverty and resource depletion . Several strategies have been proposed to mitigate overpopulation. Several scientists (including Paul Ehrlich , Gretchen Daily and Tim Flannery ) proposed that humanity should work at stabilizing its absolute numbers, as a starting point towards beginning

4599-432: The state of Texas in the United States (about 269,000 square miles or 696,706.80 square kilometres). Critics and agricultural experts suggest changes to policies relating to land use or agriculture to make them more efficient would be more likely to resolve land issues and pressures on the environment than focusing on reducing population alone. Water scarcity , which threatens agricultural productivity, represents

4672-452: The sustainable level of human population at between 2 and 4 billion people. Geographer Chris Tucker estimates that 3 billion is a sustainable number. Although proponents of human overpopulation have expressed concern that growing population will lead to an increase in global poverty and infant mortality , both indicators have declined over the last 200 years of population growth. A number of scientists have argued that human impacts on

4745-551: The way for further understanding of global warming, which has led to such agreements as the Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Agreement , and has given a foundation of modern environmentalism. In 2022 a report called "Stockholm+50: Unlocking a Better Future" was published by a team of scientists, analyzing the changes made from the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment in 1972 and giving recommendations for

4818-429: The wealthy, have been posited as key drivers of biodiversity loss and contemporary species extinction , with some researchers and environmentalists specifically suggesting this indicates a human overpopulation scenario. The Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services , released by IPBES in 2019, states that human population growth is a factor in biodiversity loss. IGI Global has uncovered

4891-520: The world can host. A 2004 meta-analysis of 69 such studies from 1694 until 2001 found the average predicted maximum number of people the Earth would ever have was 7.7 billion people, with lower and upper meta-bounds at 0.65 and 98 billion people, respectively. They conclude: "recent predictions of stabilized world population levels for 2050 exceed several of our meta-estimates of a world population limit". A 2012 United Nations report summarized 65 different estimated maximum sustainable population sizes and

4964-503: The world signed onto a " World Scientists' Warning to Humanity ," including a majority of the living Nobel prize-winners in the sciences. "The earth is finite," they wrote. "Its ability to absorb wastes and destructive effluent is finite. Its ability to provide food and energy is finite. Its ability to provide for growing numbers of people is finite. And we are fast approaching many of the earth's limits." The warning noted: Pressures resulting from unrestrained population growth put demands on

5037-440: The year 2100. However, other estimates predict additional downward pressure on fertility (such as more education and family planning) which could result in peak population during the 2060–2070 period rather than later. According to the UN, of the predicted growth in world population between 2020 and 2050, all of that change will come from less developed countries , and more than half will come from just 8 African countries. It

5110-515: Was 6% lower than the UN had estimated in 2014. Early discussions of overpopulation in English were spurred by the work of Thomas Malthus . Discussions of overpopulation follow a similar line of inquiry as Malthusianism and its Malthusian catastrophe , a hypothetical event where population exceeds agricultural capacity, causing famine or war over resources, resulting in poverty and depopulation. More recent discussion of overpopulation

5183-474: Was popularized by Paul Ehrlich in his 1968 book The Population Bomb and subsequent writings. Ehrlich described overpopulation as a function of overconsumption , arguing that overpopulation should be defined by a population being unable to sustain itself without depleting non-renewable resources . The belief that global population levels will become too large to sustain is a point of contentious debate. Those who believe global human overpopulation to be

5256-704: Was roughly 1.6 billion. By 1940, this figure had increased to 2.3 billion. Even more dramatic growth beginning in 1950 (above 1.8% per year) coincided with greatly increased food production as a result of the industrialization of agriculture brought about by the Green Revolution . The rate of human population growth peaked in 1964, at about 2.1% per year. Recent additions of a billion humans happened very quickly: 33 years to reach three billion in 1960, 14 years for four billion in 1974, 13 years for five billion in 1987, 12 years for six billion in 1999, 11 years for seven billion in 2010, and 12 years for 8 billion toward

5329-819: Was said to worsen conditions in the long run. This resulted, for example, in the English poor laws of 1834 and a hesitating response to the Irish Great Famine of 1845–52. The first World Population Conference was held in 1927 in Geneva, organized by the League of Nations and Margaret Sanger . Paul R. Ehrlich 's book The Population Bomb became a bestseller upon its release in 1968 and created renewed interest in overpopulation. The book predicted population growth would lead to famine , societal collapse , and other social, environmental and economic strife in

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