For those who don't know of him, David Attenborough is a great British character and broadcaster. Initially in the early 60's he was in senior broadcasting management, setting up the 2nd BBC television channel, groundbreaking in its day. Then he moved into making wonderful nature programmes. Recently, he said that the World's population had trebled during the time that he has been making these programmes. He recently, in his 90's, gave an impassioned keynote address at the World climate change conference in Poland. As far as I am aware, the only Nation that has made any attempt to slow down population growth has been the Chinese, who for a generation made most people only have one child. I see they have now relaxed this, presumably as they join the rest of the World in the quest for economic growth. After the Second World War, authors such as Nevil Chute predicted a great decline in UK population, echoed by the Government choosing to encourage immigration from our former colonies.
What to do? The Chinese model was seen as draconian but India's population is set to exceed that of China in the near future. Malthusian Theory suggests (as GS-Alpha says) that a sudden calamity will occur but if it was going to, then it would have already happened. Other studies suggest that the World's population will top out at around 10 billion, then show a slight decline and that resources might just cope with this. The decline will happen when all peoples have a higher standard of living and delay the production of offspring. In my family, generations historically and today are around 40 years, about 3 times that in some countries. My father was 50 when he had his first child (me) and my eldest son and his partner are both nearly 40 and have just had their first child. If the rest of the World only followed this pattern, without any draconian laws, then population growth would slow to a trickle. The prediction is that this will happen as living standards improve. Italy is a good example of this, going against the Church's desires.
TOO