There is a series on BBC radio 4 this week, 9.00am every morning, which might help develop a nuanced understanding of these statistics. I know it’s not an approved news/opinion source, sorry.
It’s a very complex issue. Average fertility needs to be 2.1 kids per woman for the population to replace itself. Many countries, including the U.K., have a rate well below this at the moment. South Korea is only 0.9. China is below the rate, and recently India has dropped to 2. The future in developed nations looks like Japan and Italy, where populations are shrinking.
Rapid population growth is happening primarily in very poor countries in Africa and some in the Middle East. Tackling poverty and ignorance would control this, but of course the people in these countries use less resources than elsewhere because they are poor.
Malthus was wrong, he thought increasing levels of resource and wealth would lead to exponential population growth. The reverse has happened. You get to a certain level particularly with education and participation in the workforce of women, who then choose to have fewer kids later. It’s a nightmare for capitalism of course, which depends on continual growth and expansion, driven by consumer demand. Probably why the U.K. government is quietly ignoring its immigration promises. Truss really happy to relax requirements for Indian immigration to the U.K. in exchange for a trade deal. The deal is good, but the economy actually needs the immigrants as well.
When the time comes, I'll arrange a foot parcel to your HMP
