Færre Mennesker - Bedre Liv

The paper argues that human population, together with the material standard and the technology applied, makes up the three major causes of the environmental pressures like global warming. The largest contribution to solving these problems has no doubt been the Chinese population policy, which so far has resulted in 800 million fewer people on Earth than if Mao's population policy had continued. This might be a better development policy for many poor countries than the conventional reverse argument, that a higher living standard will automatically lead to low birth rates. In affluent countries the birth rates are low, but unfortunately this is counteracted by politicians, aiming for increased population and BNP. The paper suggest 2 children per woman as a reasonable choice. An essential question is why the population problem in developed countries has moved from being in the center of the environmental debate to now being almost a taboo.