Subject: Re: Overpopulation
70% of the world lived in absolute poverty - virtually unchanged from the 1980 level. Since then, that number has dropped to about 47%:

Percentages are one thing. Real numbers another.
70% of 4 billion is 2.8 billion in poverty.
47% of 8 billion is 3.76 billion in poverty.
I doubt the additional billion in poverty are much comforted by the percentages.


The world is so much better than it was forty or fifty years ago! Why would you lose hope at a time when there's more reason to be hopeful than ever?

The rise in energy and industrial production, the increasing real numbers of people in poverty, is coming at the expense of the environment.

As others have mentioned, it's just not sustainable.