Overpopulation: unending growth on our finite planet is impossible.

Some truths about overpopulation - for all sides

2026-06-22T10:27:23+00:00

Overpopulation is not about space. In theory if we build a mega city on 600x600 Kilometers, and use the same population density like Macau or Monaco, all people on the Planet could live there. Overpopulation is about the impact on the environment like water/fuel/resource consumption and CO2 production, pollution etc.
It is undeniable that this consumption and pollution is too high. If everyone lived like the average citizen of Qatar, we would need 9 Earths. Even if everyone lived like the people of Moldavia, the poorest country in Europe, we would still need 1.2 Earths. Mathematically this proves that our current level of population is too high.
You can have more people with a reduced living standard, or less people with a higher living standard. You cannot have more people and a better living standard without more damage.
Overpopulation is also NOT about better resource distribution. This would elevate some problems but not most. Assume that each Billionaire consumes the same resources like 1000 American Middle Class Persons. Eliminating 3500 Billionaires is thus equal to 3.5 Million Americans. Its something but not enough to have any large effect.
Overpopulation is a global problem but at the same time a regional one. Countries like Afghanistan or Pakistan are running out of Water because their population increased 4-5x in the last 50 years.
Immigration into First World countries is making the problem worse. The Western World has below replacement level birth rates. Immigration artificially increases this population and leads to more resource consumption and CO2 production. Because every immigrant coming there consumes more resources, even if they get less kids than at home.
Green hopium/technology/going vegan is not a silver bullet. Wind+Solar produce just around 25% of the worlds energy despite 4 decades of investment. There are already 22 000 desalination plants supplying 300 Million people with water every day. Even if we tripple this number to 900 Million, thats just 10% of world population in 2035. Also these cost lots of energy. Mining the lithium for electric batteries/solar panels is also extremely devastating to the environment.
We can feed ourselves only because we got lucky through the Green Revolution and because we just abused fossil fuels and artificial fertilizer. But with Climate change and water shortages, we have probably reached peak farmland/yields.
World population is expected to increase from 8.3 Billion in 2026 to 10.3 Billion in 2056. If we can barely supply 8.3 Billion people, with all possible tricks and a perfectly running system, how are we going to supply 10 Billion+.
Why should we want this? Why are 8.3 Billion not enough? Even if our population would be reduced by one Billion. We would still be at 7 Billion people. So the level in 2011. The world worked just fine then. Its just Capitalist propaganda. The Capitalists want more consumers and more workers so that they can keep wages low and rent/house prices high.
People like Malthus and Ehrlich were prophets that were ridiculed, but they were right. They were just off by 3/4 of a century or so. Once artificial fertilizers become scarce and all the ground water is used up, carrying capacity of this planet will revert back to its natural perhaps 4 Billion.

What are some links that you like to share in discussions relevant to overpopulation?

2026-04-29T20:28:16+00:00

Let's share some of the links that we find useful when we're discussing overpopulation and related topics. I'm interested in anything that you've found yourself returning to.

Maybe you have some bookmarks that you use often, maybe something obscure that rarely comes up but you know how to talk about it when it does.

Please drop as many as you'd like here!

[link] [comments]

Except for some 10-15 countries, everyone else is running out of oil due to overpopulation

2026-10-31T12:36:11+00:00

Indonesia was a major oil producer and exporter until a few decades ago.

In 1980 it produced 1.6 Million Barrels/day and consumed 400 000. Population was 150 Million

In 2025 it produced 600 000 Barrels/day and consumed 1.7 Million. Population was 290 Million

Thats a 62% drop in oil production in 45 years.

Several dozen countries have gone through something similar in the past 40-50 years.

Only around 25 countries have managed to avoid this fate.

By 2040 though there could be only some 10-15 countries left with an oil surplus. Everyone else will have run out or their domestic production will have decreased to such a level that they will have to switch from oil exporters to oil importers.

All because of Overpopulation. More humans = more consumption of everything. Natural resources are finite. Meaning the more people you have, the faster they are used up.

We are running out of oil, out of water, out of food. And another 2 Billion people are on their way until 2090.

But theres still people who deny overpopulation, who deny Peak Oil or the finite amount of other resources. Had world population only doubled from 2 Billion to 4 Billion between 1930 and 2030 we would have an abudance of resources and a fraction of pollution and CO2 output.

But going from 2 Billion to 8.5 Billion in just 100 years? Thats like a locust swarm eating up everything in its way, leaving nothing in its wake.

This is not sustainable or managable.

submitted by /u/Aiwillstealourjobs
[link] [comments]

New Census numbers show New York's population dipped again in 2025—and proposed rules for 2030 could erase millions more from the state's tally

2026-10-30T20:27:33+00:00

submitted by /u/news-10
[link] [comments]

The evolution of world population growth from 10,000 BC to 2025

2026-10-29T10:43:38+00:00

https://x.com/TheGlobal\_Index/status/2115740311549075552?a=HLntqs2rqvhp3\_4oirQ&s=19

submitted by /u/DiggyJunior
[link] [comments]

About 90% of energy is lost when moving to a higher-level consumer (trophic level). Most humans act as secondary or even tertiary consumers, causing us to be much less efficient than if we were primary consumers (ate plants directly). This is one reason 8+ billion humans is unsustainable.

2026-10-27T23:45:03+00:00

submitted by /u/madrid987
[link] [comments]

What does this comment mean?

2026-10-27T23:32:03+00:00

"The people who complain about overpopulation haven't really changed their minds. They never will. Their position isn't reached by logic or actual knowledge."

Why is it assumed that there is a lack of logic or actual knowledge?

submitted by /u/madrid987
[link] [comments]

S. Korean family groups demand restoration of birthrate target in new population plan

2026-10-25T21:55:58+00:00

submitted by /u/madrid987
[link] [comments]

why do millennials and gen z get tasked with bringing the birth rate up so that boomers can retire when their generation of was a boom? their generation is the outlier not us

2026-10-24T19:10:39+00:00

submitted by /u/zelkovaparent
[link] [comments]

High population growth rate affecting wetlands and leading to deforestation in my county

2026-10-24T19:25:28+00:00

For context, my county, in Kenya, went from a population of 333 people per square km to 650 per sq km in less than 10 yrs. It might seem like a small amount but the pressure is getting more intense on the natural resources. We currently have the smallest amount of forest cover in the country and people are starting to target the wetlands, like Yala Swamp which is the largest delta swamp in the country.

My community organisation has a challenge to plant trees and reclaim lost land. We are already doing that and have included the community in the challenge. We plan to give 100 homesteads 15 seedlings each, both fruit and indigenous trees this coming Dec. We know the population issue has to be addressed, but to be frank, that is almost beyond our control. I'm curious though, does anyone know of any wetlands that have been reclaimed by the community? I feel like we have a chance to save ours, but we aren't confident on how to go about it. The villagers have made it easy for us since they are open to working with us to save the little we have left.

submitted by /u/Big_College641
[link] [comments]

Pro-natalist propaganda is taken as factual when within the video itself there are glaring lies. For one, it says the number of babies born worldwide in 2024 was 124 million, when it was actually >132 million, a significant difference of 8 million.

2026-10-24T21:48:16+00:00

https://www.reddit.com/r/Natalism/s/Q20CrYfVfm

If you assume false, deflated numbers to begin with, and are a pro-natalist (Jesús Fernández-Villaverde is a pro-natalist economist), and aren't operating in good faith, in order to fear-monger the public into increasing the global human birth rate to feed the greed monster, then yeah, it's going to look like the global human population peaks in 2055. But that's not the reality based on the actual empirical demographic evidence. Global TFR is 2.2 or higher (likely much higher). Despite what the video says, global human mortality did not significantly increase in 2024 and this increase doesn't affect birth rate anyway since it was almost exclusively among the elderly.

There are people who don't get counted in their country's censuses. There are more likely more than 8.3 billion people on the planet, rather than fewer than that number. And likely lots of babies born the world doesn't know about because they are born prolifically from people who are not counted by any government... However, these people exist and draw every resource imaginable, putting demand on every system that affects all of us. There is no (good) reason in the world to increase human birth rates, now, or for the foreseeable future (150+ years from now).

submitted by /u/Routine-Bumblebee-41
[link] [comments]

pro-natalists' best argument for increasing human birth rates is... we need more cannon fodder. Can't make this shit up.

2026-10-24T16:38:34+00:00

https://www.reddit.com/r/Natalism/s/1ofT2HllQm

submitted by /u/Routine-Bumblebee-41
[link] [comments]

Population growth is not stopping anytime soon

2026-10-22T14:42:08+00:00

Latin America has currently 670 Million people. Projection for 2050: 730 Million +60 Million

Asia has currently 4.9 Billion people. Projection for 2050: 5.3 Billion + 400 Million

Africa has currently 1.6 Billion people. Projection for 2050: 2.5 Billion + 900 Million

The US/Canada have no natural population growth but with immigration + 40-50 Million by 2050

Europe also no natural population growth but with immigration + 20-30 Million by 2050

Australia/New Zeeland also 0 natural population growth but with immigration + 10 Million by 2050

Meanwhile we are running out of water, resources, food, fertilizer. But another 1.5 Billion extra people by 2050 is apparently no big deal.

submitted by /u/Aiwillstealourjobs
[link] [comments]

I wonder why things are so insanely big and wasteful now.

2026-10-20T14:44:29+00:00

submitted by /u/FoucaultCareofSelf
[link] [comments]

How exactly would "no overconsumption" work with 8 Billion+ people?

2026-10-20T13:42:38+00:00

"We could have 15 Billion people living on this Planet if Overconsumption didnt exist".

Oh really? And what would be their quality of life?

Because right now there are only around 50 out of 190 countries that have a consumption which could be satisfied with 1 Earth or less, if everyone lived like them.

140 countries out of 190 live on such a level that we would need more than 1 Earth to satisfy our needs. So the citizens of 140 countries would have to reduce their living standard drastically, so that one Earth would be sufficient.

And thats with just 8.4 Billion people. With 10 or 15 Billion? Everyone would have to live like the poorest of the poor to make it work.

https://overshoot.footprintnetwork.org/how-many-earths-or-countries-do-we-need/

By comparison: If we had a population of just 2 Billion, everyone could have a living standard like the average American.

At some point numbers matter more than overconsumption and that number is probably around 4 Billion. Thats half the living standard of the US. Nothing luxurious but decent. At 5 Billion people we are already entering a living standard approaching the poor level in order for 1 Earth to be enough.

Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan and two dozen other countries are not running out of water because of "overconsumption" but because their population is 5x what it was 60 years ago.

submitted by /u/Aiwillstealourjobs
[link] [comments]

In order to have a pension, one must have employment. Increasing birth rates will NOT fix unemployment. It will make it much worse!

2026-10-20T03:59:36+00:00

submitted by /u/Routine-Bumblebee-41
[link] [comments]

How Money Works

2026-10-19T16:21:57+00:00

If the environment can't be made to support the population of a species, the species won't be able to grow.

It's pretty basic ecology: if the environment the population inhabits can't support a growing population, then the population experiences negative changes. We humans have created our environment for billions of us, and now we're discovering just how bad our systems were designed for the masses. It doesn't matter that we COULD have a higher population and we COULD feed everyone, WE CAN'T AND WE WON'T. So yes, the planet is overpopulated.

Job competition, useless degrees, expensive basic infrastructure like $30,000 to paint a crosswalk, and everyone crowding into two lane roads to get into and out of suburbs on their way to work. We messed up, and yet all the wealthiest people in the world continue to keep all their chips on Black (growth).

submitted by /u/SkepticalBystander32
[link] [comments]

How many more year do you think civilisation has left?

2026-10-19T06:30:57+00:00

e.... i don't know, im not an optimist

submitted by /u/Smooth-Pollution-467
[link] [comments]

They say birth rates are too low, but won’t allow immigration.

2026-10-19T06:28:55+00:00

Does that mean our only salvation is AI and robots?

submitted by /u/Solcat91342
[link] [comments]

Anybody find it crazy...

2026-10-17T18:44:07+00:00

That most humans to exist only appeared in like the past 200 years? The average human spoke a global language like English, Mandarin, or Spanish, practiced a religion such as Christianity, Islam, or Hinduism, and lived under similar systems of government? To add cherry on the top, half of those humans lived in South Asia or East Asia.

I know this may not be the most related thing for this sub, but this is a fact that always blows my mind. You often hear on social media "99% of human existence was lacking this" or "pre historic man did blah blah blah." However the ironic part is that living in like California in 100 AD or Europe in 3000 BC would have been extreme outliers in terms of the human condition. Electricity, air travel, modern medicine are more typical to a random human than a world without metallurgy or writing.

submitted by /u/ConfidentCycle2025
[link] [comments]

Green Washed (2025) [02:50:16]

2026-10-16T16:01:30+00:00

submitted by /u/nawfel_bgh
[link] [comments]

"Why do governments continue to prioritise growth even when it clearly conflicts with the environmental concerns & climate crisis that they also acknowledge?"

2026-10-14T12:59:16+00:00

submitted by /u/Gold-Loan3142
[link] [comments]

Worry about if democrats win

2026-10-14T23:24:23+00:00

As much as I want this fascist regime to be over, I’m worried people will start having kids way way way more once life gets better. I’m really hoping this isn’t a byproduct of Dems getting elected

submitted by /u/stockusername123
[link] [comments]

GDP arithmetic 101

2026-10-12T11:03:56+00:00

submitted by /u/Fantastic-Dig-11
[link] [comments]

Let’s debate. Culture is the mostly important factor on fertility rates

2026-10-09T19:45:53+00:00

while factors such as education and urbanization can affect fertility rates downward, they are not the main facto. the factor most important has always been culture, a couple who both have PHDs and live in a megalopolis like New York, Tokyo, Shanghai, Mumbai and London but who are deeply X (insert X pro big family culture) culturally then they WILL have many kids

submitted by /u/Livid_Session_9900
[link] [comments]

Overpopulation: unending growth on our finite planet is impossible.

Some truths about overpopulation - for all sides

What are some links that you like to share in discussions relevant to overpopulation?

Except for some 10-15 countries, everyone else is running out of oil due to overpopulation

New Census numbers show New York's population dipped again in 2025—and proposed rules for 2030 could erase millions more from the state's tally

The evolution of world population growth from 10,000 BC to 2025

About 90% of energy is lost when moving to a higher-level consumer (trophic level). Most humans act as secondary or even tertiary consumers, causing us to be much less efficient than if we were primary consumers (ate plants directly). This is one reason 8+ billion humans is unsustainable.

What does this comment mean?

S. Korean family groups demand restoration of birthrate target in new population plan

why do millennials and gen z get tasked with bringing the birth rate up so that boomers can retire when their generation of was a boom? their generation is the outlier not us

High population growth rate affecting wetlands and leading to deforestation in my county

Pro-natalist propaganda is taken as factual when within the video itself there are glaring lies. For one, it says the number of babies born worldwide in 2024 was 124 million, when it was actually >132 million, a significant difference of 8 million.

pro-natalists' *best* argument for increasing human birth rates is... we need more cannon fodder. Can't make this shit up.

Population growth is not stopping anytime soon

I wonder why things are so insanely big and wasteful now.

How exactly would "no overconsumption" work with 8 Billion+ people?

In order to have a pension, one must have employment. Increasing birth rates will NOT fix unemployment. It will make it much worse!

How Money Works

How many more year do you think civilisation has left?

They say birth rates are too low, but won’t allow immigration.

Anybody find it crazy...

Green Washed (2025) [02:50:16]

"Why do governments continue to prioritise growth even when it clearly conflicts with the environmental concerns & climate crisis that they also acknowledge?"

Worry about if democrats win

GDP arithmetic 101

Let’s debate. Culture is the mostly important factor on fertility rates

pro-natalists' best argument for increasing human birth rates is... we need more cannon fodder. Can't make this shit up.