From time to time especially relating the the current size of the world population and climate change and its potential impacts, I am reminded of Thomas Robert Malthus FRS an English cleric, scholar and influential economist in the fields of political economy and demography.
Influential at the time maybe, but pretty much discredited now. What he didn't take into account is that (as we are seeing in western countries) as standards of living and education levels rise, the birth rate falls. Endless population increase until a crash is by no means inevitable. Current estimates are that it will top out around 10.9 billion by the end of this century.
