Feeling crowded yet? The US Census Bureau estimates the world’s population has passed 8 billion
Associated PressOCT 2023
Report: Global Population Rose 75M in 2023 But Growth Rate Slowed
Image copyright: Anindito Mukherjee/Getty Images News via Getty Images
The Spin
Pro-establishment narrative
The global population has rapidly increased for over half a century and will likely continue on this path if we don't take countermeasures. The world has too many people, as shown by a lack of equitably shared resources and the current rate of energy use damaging our ecosystem. A main contributor to this is the marginalization of women and girls who, if they were given reproductive autonomy, would decide to have fewer children. As we give more education, medicine, and wealth to those already on our planet, the data show that the population will decrease to a more sustainable level.
Establishment-critical narrative
Many have rightly praised contraception for its ability to give people control over when and how they build families. However, the movement was quickly taken over by problematic plutocrats like the Rockefeller, Ford, and Bill and Melinda Gates foundations to micromanage populations. The rate of growth has been declining for decades, so we should all question why these global elites continue to push this debunked idea. In fact, underpopulation in countries in nations like Japan is a true demographic challenge that needs to be addressed.