27 March 2023
A projection of how the global population will change by the Club of Rome is far below United Nations estimates and numbers could drop even faster if we invest more in reducing poverty and inequality, it says
22 March 2023
To address our overconsumption of resources, we must work to achieve a sustainable population by addressing gender inequality, improving education and tackling poverty, says Chris Packham
9 November 2022
With the global population set to reach 8 billion people next week, Robin Maynard argues that investment in family planning, gender equality and education would have a profound positive impact on the planet
9 November 2022
The number of people on the planet has hit a huge milestone at 8 billion, but fertility rates are falling fast in many countries, which means planning for an older population
4 October 2022
The covid-19 pandemic has been linked to a decline in the proportion of male babies being born, in line with previous findings that fewer boys are born after population-wide stressful events
23 February 2022
People born between 1946 and 1964 reported lower happiness than other cohorts in surveys spanning 16 years – probably because the size of the group means more competition
11 November 2020
A pandemic assisted by our incursions into nature has given questions about human population size a renewed focus, but advocates for limiting population also have questions to answer
10 October 2019
New Scientist readers are more knowledgeable than the general public and experts on the state of the world, but still score worse than monkeys would on some questions
21 August 2019
A Chinese government policy allowing all couples to have two children led to an additional 5.4 million births in the first 18 months after it took effect
22 May 2019
Discussions of population's impact on Earth have been off limits, but scientists and conservationists are challenging the taboo and politicians must do the same, says Graham Lawton
