By Justin Gillis, New York Times
The world’s population is expected to pass seven billion in late October. A few weeks ago, I joined my colleague Celia Dugger in writing about worrisome new population projections from the United Nations. Instead of peaking in this century, as previously expected, the new projections suggested that the human population would continue growing all the way into the next century, probably topping out above 10 billion.
Whether the planet can support that many people, and in what living conditions, is a subject of continuing uncertainty.
In a special report in Friday’s issue of the journal Science, experts consider the implications of this continued population growth and other demographic shifts expected in coming decades. Some, but not all, elements of the package are available free at this link, including videos and a podcast discussing several of the new papers.
The article that most caught my eye was a review paper by demographers in Vienna. They confirmed previous research suggesting that the single biggest factor influencing population growth rates is the educational status of women. If one wants to slow the rapid population growth in developing countries, the thinking goes, the highest priority should be putting more girls in school.
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