Could world population actually start declining?

[kalibex]

Jeff Wise's recent article in Slate: "About That Overpopulation Problem" (A Future Tense collaboration between ASU, Slate & New America Foundation) suggests that it might:

...It took humankind 13 years to add its 7 billionth. That’s longer than the 12 years it took to add the 6 billionth—the first time in human history that interval had grown. (The 2 billionth, 3 billionth, 4 billionth, and 5 billionth took 123, 33, 14, and 13 years, respectively.) In other words, the rate of global population growth has slowed. And it’s expected to keep slowing. Indeed, according to experts’ best estimates, the total population of Earth will stop growing within the lifespan of people alive today.

And then it will fall.

Apparently the Demographic Transition theory and recent lower birth rates fuels this speculation.


_http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/future_tense/2013/01/world_population_may_actually_start_declining_not_exploding.single.html#pagebreak_anchor_2

 

[Laura]

Interesting.

And then, there is plague. That'll fix us right up!

 

[mcb]

The collapse of the worldwide industrial food supply system could also have a profound effect on population (which is to say, mass die-off). Funny they didn't mention that, since the system is teetering on the brink, waiting for the right natural or manmade disaster to tip it over.

 

[SeekinTruth]

Yeah, a population collapse seems MUCH more likely with so many factors we discuss here than adding the next billion and the next. And pretty soon too.

 

[Eboard10]

The coming food shortages and price hikes due to both climatic changes and the economic downturn combined with the plague will produce a deadly mix!