New Video: 7 Billion People on Earth is Not Overpopulation

International   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Oct 4, 2011   |   12:53PM   |   Washington, DC

The Population Research Institute (PRI) just released the fifth episode of their highly popular YouTube cartoon video series just in time for the world’s population to reach 7 billion people. The series notes how the Earth is not overpopulated — since many countries are seeing aging populations and worker shortages.

The latest video, available at www.overpopulationisamyth.com, is about two minutes long, and it deals with the issues surrounding the latest milestone of 7 billion people on the planet. The video aims to show that, according to the UN’s latest data, the world’s population is not skyrocketing out of control, but rather slowing to a standstill before plummeting downward again.

“We set out to be entertaining first,” says Colin Mason, PRI’s Director of Media Production and the video’s editor. “We figure if we can be funny and interesting visually, people will absorb the concepts.”

“Essentially,” Mason continues, “when people see the rate at which we’re adding a billion people, they automatically assume that our population is ballooning at an unsustainable rate. But that’s not the case at all . . . and most of the time, all it takes is a simple explanation of the math and people get it. The hard part is getting them interested enough to do that. That’s what we hope to accomplish with these videos.”

Steven Mosher, PRI’s president, adds: “The fight against the myth of overpopulation does not have to be a bare-knuckled brawl. These videos are funny and easy to digest, the very opposite of Al Gore’s boring pronouncements on the ‘dangers’ of too many people. Our viewers end up considering the science that supports our pro-people position, often for the very first time. We say to our skeptics: watch, laugh, and learn.”

In May, the Population Division of the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs released a projection that the world population will reach 7 billion on October 31. The UNFPA used this as an opportunity to call for more family planning services in order to decrease fertility rates worldwide. This is a not so subtle call for more population control.

“The call for population control is a false alarm. Birthrates are already dropping worldwide. Many countries have fertility rates that are well below replacement rate,” notes Bill Saunders, an attorney with Americans United for Life. “In order to maintain a steady population that does not increase and does not decrease, a country must have a fertility rate of 2.1. This is the replacement rate.  If each woman has an average of 2.1 children, she will replace herself and a man, and allow for the occasion in which some children will not make it to maturity in order to replace themselves. A fertility rate below 2.1 children per woman means that a country will not replace itself.”

“Russia is a perfect example of this. Today Russia’s population is disappearing. From 1985 to 1990, Russia had a fertility rate that just met replacement, 2.12 children per woman. Russia’s fertility rate dropped drastically from 2005 to 2010, to 1.44 children per woman.[2] Similarly, Russia’s total population has decreased from 148,244,000 people in 1990, to 142,958,000 in 2010.[3] That is a decrease of 5,268,000 people in 20 years. A significant factor is Russia’s declining birthrate is abortion. An unofficial estimate signifies that there are 4 million abortions a year in Russia as compared to only 1.7 million live births,” he explained.

“Russia is not the only country with a fertility rate that is below replacement. Most of Europe is suffering from this demographic crisis. Italy, Spain, Germany, and Portugal and others had fertility rates close to 1.4 children per woman from 2005 to 2010.[6] Furthermore, worldwide fertility rates have dropped by nearly 50% since 1950,” Saunders continued. “Countries with birthrates that are significantly below replacement rate face the challenge of decreased workforce, decreased consumption, and decreased ability to defend their borders. The impact of years of “population control” propaganda and abortion, on the world’s fertility has been devastating. Instead of continuing down that path, the United Nations should take a leaf out of Russia’s book and try to think of ways to strengthen the family and increase fertility worldwide.”