Optimum Human Population Size
By Gretchen C. Daily, Anne H. Ehrlich, and Paul R. Ehrlich
A 1993 article elaborating on how to define and determine what constitutes an optimum human population size. Quoted from the article:
"In
general, we would choose a population size that maximizes very broad
environmental and social options for individuals. For example, the
population of the United States
should be small enough to permit the availability of large tracts of
wilderness for hikers and hermits, yet large enough to create vibrant
cities that can support complex artistic, educational, and other
cultural endeavors that lift the human spirit."
"To summarize this brief essay, determination of an "optimum" world
population size involves social decisions about the lifestyles to be
lived and the distribution of those lifestyles among individuals in the
population. To us it seems reasonable to assume that, until cultures
and technologies change radically, the optimum size of the human
population lies in the vicinity of 1.5 to 2 billion people. That number
also is our approximate best guess of the continuous standing crop of
people, if achieved reasonably soon, that would permit the maximum
number of Homo sapiens to live in the long run. But suppose we
have underestimated the optimum and it actually is 4 billion? Since the
present population is over 5.5 billion and growing rapidly, the initial
policy implications of our conclusions are still clear."
Read the full article at UrbanHabitat.org >>
