Jun 21, 2017
In 1798, 95 percent of the world lived in poverty. Today, less
than 10 percent do, in spite of the world’s population growing by
700 percent in that same time.
The common thought among young people is that this 700 percent
population growth is going to overpopulate the earth. But given the
number of people in poverty, it looks like population growth is
actually good for poverty – more people means more brains, which
means more ideas, inventions, and innovations.
This week on Words and Numbers, Antony Davies and James R. Harrigan
talk about how and why the world is improving despite widespread
negativity towards the idea of a growing world population, and why
that negativity persists regardless of the prosperity we see every
day.