On 15 November 2022, the world’s population is projected to reach 8 billion people, a milestone in human development and humanities future. 

This unprecedented growth is due to the gradual increase in human lifespan owing to improvements in public health, nutrition, personal hygiene and medicine. It is also the result of high and persistent levels of fertility in some countries.

8,000 million people on the planet. What does that even mean?

This first of two podcasts episodes explores humanities humble beginnings and why we are the population juggernaut we are today. 

We examine the factors that caused this phenomenal realization and the single recognition that caused our numbers to grow sky-high. 

We also look at any perceived advantages of rapid population growth, and the difficulties and misconceptions associated with it. 

In part two of our podcast on Population we will take a closer look at environmental impacts and pressures of the rapidly expanding number of humans, and to the simple, affordable and human-life affirming solution to over-population. 

Finally, we will delve into the third rail of climate and environmental politics: with all we know, is it ethical to have children in our rapidly changing world?