The Population Argument

At the turn of the 19th century, the Earth was home to around one billion people. Today, it is more than eight billion. Time and again, this growth has triggered warnings that can ultimately be traced back to the theories of economist Thomas Malthus: too many people leads to hunger and ecological and social crises.

Dana Schmalz illustrates how politicians employ the “population argument” for their own personal gain: only ever finding excess growth somewhere else, in the Global South or in marginalised communities. Governments use the argument to restrict reproductive rights, and development policy continues to be guided by racist ideas around reproduction and population growth. And more recently, we’ve seen anti-feminist groups citing falling birth rates as a way to prop up their conspiracy theories, in an effort to gain traction among a broader audience.