Notes on Hans Rosling on population growth:

  • Gap between West and developing countries
  • Developing countries have turned into emerging economies – aspiring to live like richest nations
  • Improving child survival to 90% in these developing countries will get world population growth to stop
  • Health investments in developing countries are actually helping us to reach a “sustainable population size of the world”.
  • “We can stop at 9 billion people if we do the right things – child survival is the new green.”
  • Role of the old West in the new world is to become part of the foundation of the modern world.

Questions:

  • Where do global population estimates come from?
    • What are the assumptions used to make these estimates (ie. changes in fertility and mortality rates in the next few decades)
  • How valid are these global population estimates?
    • (It has been argued that some of today’s predictions of what the global population will be in 2050 are actually much lower than they were in the 60s and 70s. )
  • World Bank estimates 1.4 billion people live less on a euro a day – What will 2 billion more people do to this situation?
  • Why do we think/assume these population estimates are stable? And do we even wanna get there?
  • Does the earth have a carrying capacity?
    • If so, what is it?
    • And when will we reach or overshoot this limit?
  • What is the scenario going to look like with 9 billion people?
  • How do we get the message out that population growth is a major problem?
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