Missing Numbers Numbers count! Population is the critical driver in most environmental and many economic & social problems But it is not the only driving force and interacts with other ones

Progress! Success!

A world under too much pressure Peak oil Climate change Congestion Housing shortages Explosive growth of slum cities Air pollution Water pollution Overflowing landfills Growing shortages of key minerals Decreasing quality of life Unemployment ‘Affluenza’ Growing food shortages Growing water shortages Overfishing Competition for land Biodevastation Urban disorders Civil wars & terrorism Austerity & declining ‘social wage’ Toxic & radioactive contamination Crumbling education, health & other services Inequality & discrimination Acidification

Technology: extraction, cultivation, refining, manufacture, transportation, services, buildings, disposal etc.

Per capita consumption or ‘affluence’

Generalisations like ‘developing’ and ‘industrialised’ regions can be misleading: great variety within such vague entities Growth rates have turned out to be higher than previously predicted

Technology is an important variable but the potential of ‘alternatives’ is frequently exaggerated Often the ‘technofix’ creates more problems than it solves.

‘P’ factor is uniquely decisive yet the ‘P’ word is seldom spoken

Greater Tokyo, Japan, crams in over 34 million inhabitants

World population size 2 billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion 2085 UK population size 50 million million million million 2089

Current world population growth rate 78 million per year 1.5million per week 214,000 per day 8,900 per hour 148 per minute 2.5 per second See No wonder we are called the human race!

Africa’s population projected to grow from 1 billion people today to 2.2 billion by % of the total population is under age15

Misconceptions & misconceivers

Vice President Jejomar C. Binay of the Philippines: "As we resolutely blaze our path to progress, we draw strength from each life that springs forth and welcome the birth of new minds and hearts… While even the most austere homes in our Philippines celebrate the arrival of each child with great joy” With an estimated population of about 94 million people, the Philippines is the world's 12th most populous country. An additional 11 million Filipinos live overseas. Forest cover declined from 70% of the country's total land area in 1900 to about 18.3% in Many species are endangered and scientists say that Southeast Asia, which the Philippines is part of, faces a catastrophic extinction rate of 20% by the end of the century. The population's median age is 22.7 years with 60.9% aged from 15 to 64 years old. The overall growth rate is about 2%