Our population question

There is no doubt that more people will need more resources to survive. But it cannot be argued that population growth is an indicator of the resultant environmental degradation

India is expected to overtake China to become the world’s most populous country sometime in July, it is said. We don’t have a firm month, because our census — the count of population — is more than a decade old. So, we can only estimate the expected overshoot date — sometime in mid-2023, we will match China’s 1.45 billion people and then surpass it. The question I get asked often is, what does this mean for the environment?

There is no doubt that more people will need more resources to survive. But it cannot be argued that population growth is an