We must work hard to rebut the UN's anti-population ideology

The United Nations Population Division (UNPD), which analyses world demography (and which is separate from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), which was established to promote population control) is lamenting the fact that the world's population is growing. Hania Zlotnik, UNPD's director, said:

"[H]igh-fertility countries may not reduce their fertility fast enough and countries with intermediate fertility levels may see them stagnate above replacement level. Even countries with intermediate fertility need to reduce it to replacement level or below if they wish to avert continuous population increases to unsustainable levels."

Yet the idea that even high-range estimates of world population growth are "unsustainable" is simply false - as the UNPD itself said in 2001:

"Even though population increased more rapidly during the twentieth century than ever before, economic output grew even faster, owing to the accelerating tempo of technological progress…[W]hile world population increased close to 4 times, world real gross domestic product increased 20 to 40 times, allowing the world to not only sustain a four-fold population increase, but also to do so at vastly higher standards of living ... Over the period 1961-1998, world per capita food available for direct human consumption increased by 24 per cent, and there is enough being produced for everyone on the planet to be adequately nourished ... During recent decades new reserves have been discovered, producing the seeming paradox that even though consumption of many minerals has risen, so has the estimated amount of the resource as yet untapped." (World Population Monitoring, UNPD, 2001)

So we can see that the latest UNPD report represents a victory of ideology over facts. Pro-lifers must therefore work hard to rebut the UN's anti-population ideology. We must use the resources of:

• the Population Research Institute (PRI)
• Dr Nicholas Eberstadt
• the late Dr Jacqueline Kasun
• the late Professor Julian Simon
• Andy Pollard, who will be speaking at the Fourth International Youth Pro-Life Conference, organised by SPUC in Scotland, 18-20 March.

Here is a list of some posts from this blog about population which you may find useful:

• 2011: 18 Jan
• 2009: 15 Jan, 30 May, 1 June, 28 Aug, 20 Nov, 29 Dec

Comments on this blog? Email them to johnsmeaton@spuc.org.uk
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