Skip to content
  • #
  • About N-IUSSP
    • Our History
    • Editorial Commettee
    • Authors
  • Featured
    • eBooks
    • Graphics
    • Video
  • Write for us
  • Newsletter
  • Contacts
N-IUSSP
World population
N-IUSSP
  • About N-IUSSP
  • Topics
    • Fertility and reproduction
    • Families and households
    • Mobility, migration and foreigners
    • Health and mortality
    • Individual and population ageing, age structure
    • Environment and development
    • Education, work, economy (socio-economic differences)
    • Gender issues
  • Featured
    • Graphics
    • Video
  • Contacts
  • Newsletter
  • Write for us
  • Education • work • economy
  • Environment • development
  • Families • households
  • Fertility • reproduction
  • Gender issues
  • Health • mortality
  • population ageing • age structure
  • Mobility • migration • foreigners

Environment and development

Relations between population, resources and economic development. Population pressure and livelihoods. The role of environmental variables and climate change.

Environment and development

The effect of two billion more people

March 31, 2025March 31, 2025 Richard Grossman
Environment, population, population growth, world

Richard Grossman joins the ongoing N-IUSSP debate on the sustainability of current and predicted population growth. He takes up several of the arguments that make David Lam moderately optimistic about … Read more

Environment and development

How will two billion more people affect food, water, energy, and CO2?

January 20, 2025 David Lam
Environment, population, population growth, world

David Lam looks at the resource impact of the projected 2.1 billion increase in world population by 2084. He concludes that population change will increase demand for food and water, … Read more

Environment and development

Heatwaves and birthweight in Africa

September 19, 2024September 19, 2024 Liliana Andriano
Africa

Liliana Andriano shows that heatwave exposure prior to birth causes lower birthweight. Given the implications for life-long health and well-being, the study provides insights for policymakers who are concerned with … Read more

Environment and development

Effects of forest environment construction on physical activity

September 16, 2024September 16, 2024 Huameng Tang, Dianqi Yuan and Chao Guo
china

The Chinese government attaches great importance to the construction of National Forest Cities, which have proved effective not only as part of the national low-carbon environmental strategy, but also as … Read more

Environment and development

Can Earth support 4 billion people sustainably and well?

January 22, 2024January 22, 2024 Joel E. Cohen
sustainable development, world

On October 18, 2023, the International Union for the Scientific Study of Population (2023) broadcast a Yes-or-No debate on the statement: “The population of humans that can be supported sustainably … Read more

Environment and development

Explaining the demographic expansion of the Ancient Greeks (550-409 BCE) through the lens of the city of Himera (Sicily, Italy)

September 25, 2023 Norma Lonoce, Gianpiero Dalla Zuanna, Pier Francesco Fabbri, Stefano Vassallo and Irene Barbiera

Between the 9th and 3rd centuries BCE, the Greeks founded more than 500 colonies throughout the Mediterranean basin. According to Norma Lonoce, Gianpiero Dalla-Zuanna, Pier Francesco Fabbri, Stefano Vassallo and … Read more

Environment and development

The subnational Human Development Index: details on inequality

March 14, 2021October 19, 2020 Iñaki Permanyer and Jeroen Smits
Environment, Human Development Index, world

Studies on the distribution of human development across the globe tend to omit the variations that exist within countries. Iñaki Permanyer and Jeroen Smits fill this gap by developing a … Read more

Environment and development

Demography and development in the maze of Indian districts

March 10, 2021January 7, 2020 Sanjay K. Mohanty, Udaya S. Mishra, Rajesh K. Chauhan and Sayantani Chatterjee
Asia, Children, India, population, population growth

A striking contrast in demographic and development indicators emerges from a recent analysis of the 640 districts of India, which Sanjay K. Mohanty, Udaya S. Mishra, Rajesh K. Chauhan and … Read more

Environment and development

Modernizing the census in Europe: traditional and new methods for the 2020 round

March 10, 2021September 13, 2019 Paolo Valente
census, Europe, population

For the 2020 census round, Paolo Valente informs us that two-thirds of European countries plan to increase efficiency by using methods other than the traditional census based on paper questionnaires. Registers will … Read more

Environment and development

Global family change: persistent diversity with development

June 3, 2021March 25, 2019 Luca Maria Pesando
Family, Migration, mobility

Decades of sweeping demographic, economic, and social change have radically transformed structures, gender roles, and intergenerational bonds of families worldwide, initially in high‐income countries (HICs), and more recently in low‐ … Read more

Environment and development

Four compelling reasons to fear population growth

March 10, 2021February 11, 2019 Massimo Livi Bacci
Demography, Environment, Human capital, population

Following on from last week’s article, Massimo Livi Bacci details four specific threats to human survival (or, at least, quality of survival) that are directly linked to population growth. Four … Read more

Environment and development

The impact of transportation infrastructures on growth and development

March 14, 2021January 28, 2019 Bishal Bhakta Kasu and Guangqing Chi
Americas, Migration, mobility

In developing economies, transportation infrastructures are considered a growth factor. But is this still true when the economy matures? Bishal Kasu and Guangqing Chi answer this question using recent (1970–2010) … Read more

Environment and development

The Union and the study of population: 1947-1994

March 10, 2021December 17, 2018 Massimo Livi Bacci
Demography, population

In the 90 years since its foundation in 1928, the International Union for the Scientific Study of Population (IUSSP), or simply the Union, has been very active in the field … Read more

Environment and development

Even in Europe: population growth and climate change

March 10, 2021November 26, 2018 Hannes Weber
Environment, Europe, population, population growth

Proving many experts’ forecasts wrong, large parts of Europe are witnessing population growth rather than stability or decline. Hannes Weber notes that this is having detrimental effects on the environment … Read more

Environment and development

Thinking about the future: the four billion question

March 8, 2021February 12, 2018 Massimo Livi Bacci
Demography, Environment, population

The “population question”, central to the debate about humankind’s future since the 18th century, has slipped away from center stage and fallen into a coma in recent years. The international … Read more

Environment and development

Global population, development aspirations and fallacies

March 8, 2021February 5, 2018 George Martine
Demography, population, Welfare

The debate in this forum between Lam (2017) and Grossman (2017) concerning the outlook for the world’s next four billion people is opportune. Both essays highlight critical issues and make … Read more

Environment and development

The world in which the next 4 billion people will live

March 7, 2021November 13, 2017 Richard Grossman
population, Welfare

I was pleased to read Professor David Lam’s N-IUSSP essay “The world’s next 4 billion people will differ from the previous 4 billion” (Lam 2017). He outlines past, present and … Read more

Environment and development

Migration reduces climate risk for many but not for all

March 7, 2021October 9, 2017 Martina Grecequet and Jessica Hellmann
Demography, Migration, mobility, population

As the consequences of climate change accumulate, many experts expect to see migration away from the world’s most impacted regions as people seek a climate and an economy that better … Read more

Environment and development

The world’s next 4 billion people will differ from the previous 4 billion

March 6, 2021July 24, 2017 David Lam
Demography, population, world

When the world population reached 7 billion in 2011, it marked the amazing addition of 4 billion people in just over 50 years, the world having attained the 3 billion … Read more

Environment and development

Vital registration in Africa: when will it be complete?

March 5, 2021February 6, 2017 Michel Garenne and Pierre Cantrelle
Africa, Demography, Mortality, Reproduction

Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (CR/VS) is an essential administrative system in modern societies. The registration of births and deaths defines a number of basic rights and duties, and is … Read more

Environment and development

Strong growth projected for Australia’s Indigenous population

March 4, 2021January 2, 2017 Tom Wilson
Demography, Oceania, population

Australia’s Indigenous population Australia’s Indigenous population consists of its Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Aboriginal peoples are estimated to have settled the Australian continent approximately 50,000 years agowhilst the … Read more

Environment and development

Lower world population growth? A matter of culture

March 3, 2021April 4, 2016 Vegard Skirbekk, Marcin Stonawski and Guido Alfani
Americas, Asia, Europe, Fertility, Mortality, Oceania

The demographic transition, i.e., the passage from the ancient to the modern demographic regime of low fertility and low mortality, can be a highly heterogeneous process, and its impact on … Read more

Environment and development

Sustainability and the missing links in global governance

September 13, 2022March 14, 2016 George Martine
Environment, Welfare

After decades of dithering, posturing and procrastination on global environmental issues, 2015 appeared to be a banner year for sustainability. Growing recognition of environmental threats finally triggered waves of public … Read more

Environment and development

Counting who is dying in Sub-Saharan Africa and what they are dying from: an imperative for the post-2015 agenda

March 14, 2021March 7, 2016 Bruno Masquelier and Gloria Mathenge
Africa, Children, Health, inequality, Mortality, Poverty

Introduction The need for timely and reliable mortality estimates is acute in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), and about half of all under-five deaths. Yet, there is considerable uncertainty as to mortality … Read more

Environment and development

Do we need a population policy?

March 3, 2021February 29, 2016 Jacques Vallin
population

From the writings of Plato (4th century BCE) on the population of the ideal Greek city, to the famous precept of Jean Bodin (1576) “the only wealth is man”, the … Read more

Environment and development

The Merry-go-round of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals

March 3, 2021February 1, 2016 Alaka Basu
Africa, Asia, Demography, Gender issues, population, Work

Advocacy is a funny thing. If you feel strongly enough about a cause, as everyone in international development does these days, it is no longer enough to campaign for something … Read more

Environment and development

The United Nations Agenda for Sustainable Development

March 3, 2021January 4, 2016 Massimo Livi Bacci
Africa, Americas, Asia, Demography, Europe, Oceania, population

The United Nations Sustainable Development Summit was held in New York on 25-27 September 2015. The 193-member UN General Assembly formally adopted the ambitious agenda “Transforming Our World: 2030 Agenda … Read more

Environment and development

Des projections démographiques jusqu’en 2100… Est-ce bien raisonnable?

March 3, 2021December 4, 2015 Henri Leridon
Demography, Fertility, Migration, mobility, Mortality

En économie, il est rare que l’on se hasarde à des prévisions au-delà de quelques années. Il n’y a guère que les climatologues pour faire tourner des modèles sur 100 … Read more

Environment and development

Les politiques démographiques sont-elles efficaces ?

March 3, 2021November 27, 2015 Jacques Vallin
Africa, Demography, Fertility, Mortality

Examinons quatre types d’objectifs pouvant légitimer des politiques de population dans un contexte donné : réduire la mortalité (Vallin et Meslé, 2006), limiter la fécondité si la croissance démographique est trop … Read more

Sri Lanka people
Environment and development

The population of Sri Lanka in transition: policy stance

March 3, 2021November 13, 2015 K.A.P. Siddhisena
Asia, Education, Health, Human capital, inequality, population, Poverty

The present world population of 7.3 billion is projected to increase to 8.5 billion or more by 2030, with almost 90 percent of the increase occurring in the developing countries, … Read more

Environment and development

Faut-il une politique de population ?

March 14, 2021November 6, 2015 Jacques Vallin
population

Toutes les sociétés humaines se sont efforcées d’influer sur la taille ou la composition de la population. Des écrits de Platon sur la population que devait comporter la cité grecque … Read more

Environment and development

Pauperia and Tycoonia: Population and Sustainability

February 23, 2021July 14, 2015 Massimo Livi Bacci
Human capital, Mortality, world

Once upon a time, population was a central issue in the international debate on the future of the planet. Despite profound ideological and political differences among the major players of … Read more

Edited by
Associazione Neodemos
via A. Baldesi 18-20
50131 Firenze

Privacy Policy

Latest posts

  • The growing role of ART in fertility rates in Norway
  • Depression is rising in China
  • Divergent pathways into adulthood in the Global South
  • What we know about child protective services in the Global North

Credits

Caterina Livi Bacci
Editing - graphics - web design

Filippo Bonechi & Francesco Cipriani
Web developer - database project

© 2025 N-IUSSP - ISSN 2704-7067