Population growth is overwhelming our efforts to protect the biosphere and to achieve a sustainable future for generations to come.
“Family planning could bring more benefits to more people at less cost than any other single technology now available to the human race.”
(UN, 1992)
Too Many People
In many countries scarcity – of food, water, energy and other resources – is already being acutely felt. Typically, conflicts that dominate media headlines are caused by resource scarcity. Without population stabilization, and eventual reduction, a majority of people in the developing world will fail to achieve even a minimally adequate standard of living.
The Future?
World population is expected to rise from 8.2 billion in 2024 to 9.8 billion by 2050 (UN projection). This growth is already degrading the natural world on which we depend for much of what we cherish and require for life. A finite planet cannot accommodate ever more people. Its resources are even now not sufficient to satisfy the millions of poor who crave a better life for themselves and their children.
The Facts:
The world’s population is still growing alarmingly. In the 30 years between 1994, when the United Nations Conference on Population and Development was held in Cairo, and 2024, human numbers increased by 2.5 billion, equal to the total population in 1950, with most growth occurring in the developing world. Every week, at about 9,000 an hour, 1.5 million people are added to the planet (2024) leading to unprecedented global challenges, including food and water shortages, a looming energy crisis and many environmental impacts. Long-denied consequences of more humans on ecosystems – biodiversity loss, deforestation, soil exhaustion, vanishing fisheries and higher greenhouse gas emissions -are increasingly evident. All of these result in increased human suffering and conflicts.
On a globe of finite space – with finite non-renewable resources – infinite population growth is not an option. Without reducing numbers, all other efforts to save a beleaguered environment are ultimately doomed to failure. Family planning and population reduction can spell the difference between poverty and development, between global security and insecurity, between a healthy, balanced and sustainable environment and its unconscionable alternatives, including famine, disease and war. Added dividends include the realization of improved human rights and greater gender equality.
PIC campaigns to raise awareness of population-related challenges and of what can be done to address them. It urges Canadians and their governments to confront the facts with intelligence, candour and appropriate actions equal to the challenges faced both at home and abroad.