Hans helps us understand the nexus between population and climate change

Hans Rosling from the Gapminder Foundation
the good things about population growth.

Many equate the difficulties arising from climate change simplistically with the exponential growth in population.

In some instances that is correct and their conclusions cannot be denied, but people such as Professor of Ethics Clive Hamilton only recently argued it is not worsened by sheer numbers alone, rather how those people live, their consumptive behaviour and their use of fossil fuel energy.

Those views are reflected by the Swedish medical doctor and statistician Hans Rosling, of the Gapminder Foundation, who interprets global population figures with compassion, clarity and humour to separate the myths and misconceptions from the facts.

He points out that the world population has more than doubled over the past 50 years, ballooning from roughly 3.5 billion to more than 7 billion.

Hans uses statistics to explore what sounds concerning, frightening even and asks: “Do more people mean a lower quality of life across the globe?”

In dissecting and laying out the very real challenges that humanity faces, Hans’ message remains that the world is a much better place than many people think.

Watch the hour-long video – “Is the ‘population bomb’ real?”