Michelle Duggar: Overpopulation Is A Lie

"Because really, the entire population of the world, if they were stood shoulder to shoulder, could fit in the city limits of Jacksonville. So if you realize that aspect of it, you realize that we're nowhere near being overpopulated. We’ve had other countries coming to our doorstep, asking us to please let their people know that they need to have more children. They are seeing that their death rates are outnumbering their birth rates and they’re in crisis." - Michelle Duggar, speaking to the Christian Broadcasting Network.

RELATED: Duggar mentions Jacksonville because it's the largest Florida city by population and the largest in the United States by area. This was accomplished by the 1968 consolidation of Duval County and the city of Jacksonville. Jacksonville is also the 11th largest city in the country by population, another "city limits technicality" that places it ahead of San Francisco, Boston, Washington, and many other better known places.

7 Billion Ugly Bags Of Mostly Water

As of yesterday.

Overpopulation: Totally A Myth

The Population Research Institute, which is a front group for the Christianist Bradley Foundation, claims that overpopulation is a myth. Throw away those condoms! Use the Earth as you fucking well please!

Comparing China's Population

The Economist places other countries in the Chinese provinces with a similar population.

(Via - Andrew Sullivan)

Population Concentration

If all the people in the world had to live in one city, here's how big that city would be based on the population densities of six examples.

Seven Billion Humans

National Geographic has launched a year-long series on the global population, which grew by almost one billion in just the last ten years.

2000 Vs 2010: What Has Changed

Nearly a billion more people in just ten years and almost twice as many endangered species. Embiggen for a better look.

(Source)

China Begins End To One Child Rule

China has begun ending its famous one child per family rule. The restriction will be lifted in five provinces next year with the rest of the country to slowly follow. But only two children will be allowed in the affected provinces, for now, and the new policy has an additional restriction.

In 2011, China will start pilot projects in five provinces, all of which have low birth rates, to allow a second birth if at least one spouse is an only child, says He Yafu, an independent demographer who is in close contact with policymakers. Beijing, Shanghai and four other provinces will follow suit in 2012, with nationwide implementation by 2013 or 2014, he says. "In the past, we only focused on slowing population growth," says Peng Xizhe, a professor at Shanghai's Fudan University. "It's much more complicated than we earlier thought." The National Population and Family Planning Commission, which enforces the "one-child policy," refused interview requests. The policy has prevented 400 million births in China, which has a population of 1.3 billion, according to the family planning agency. But a dramatic decline in birth rates and improved longevity over the past two decades have caused China's population to age at one of the fastest rates ever recorded, says the Population Reference Bureau, a demographic firm.

Female infanticide has left China with more than 30 million more boys than girls under the age of 20. Women who bear a second child have been subject to fines up to $30K.

Breeding For God

A fascinating article in the Telegraph UK points out that outside of age and marital status, religiosity is the greatest predictor of how many children a European woman will produce. Since the power of Christ isn't compelling atheists to breed, they crank out relatively fewer refusniks.

Data is rare in this area, but what they do have suggests that atheists are a dying breed. Austria is the only country which records the religious belief of parents but their figure, of 0.85 children per atheist woman, is far below replacement rate (2.1) and below even the most barren European country’s average rate, which is about 1.2. And since most people inherit their parents’ political and religious world views, this is bad news for Team Dawkins.

The article cites this gem from philosopher Julian Baggini.

I have one, and only one, firm and sincere desire about what quality my grandchildren should possess: non-existence. The issue for me is rather one about the possible forms of the good life. I just cannot understand why it is that the vast majority of people seem to think breeding is a vital component of a flourishing existence.

We'll make it up by recruiting.

7 Billion

We have seriously got to step up the homo recruiting.

The world's population will hit 7 billion early in 2012 and top 9 billion in 2050, with the vast majority of the increase coming in the developing countries of Asia and Africa, according to a U.N. estimate released Wednesday. Hania Zlotnik, director of the U.N. Population Division, said that "there have been no big changes" from the previous estimate in 2006. "We are still projecting that by 2050 the population of the world will be around 9.1 billion," she said at a news conference. "The projections are based on the assumption that fertility that is now around 2.56 children per woman is going to decline to about 2.02 children per woman in the world." Population growth will remain concentrated in the most populous countries through 2050. Nine nations are expected to account for half the projected increase: India, Pakistan, Nigeria, Ethiopia, the U.S., Congo, Tanzania, China and Bangladesh, the report said."

Over 40 (mostly western European and former Soviet) nations will see current populations decline by 10% or more by 2050. Present trends indicate that the U.S. will top 400 million by then, helped along by the world's highest immigration rate of over 1 million annually.