A new study concludes that the global population of 8.3 billion already exceeds what Earth can sustainably support. Researchers analyzed more than 200 years of data and found that resource use has pushed the planet beyond its carrying capacity since the mid twentieth century.
The research, published in Environmental Research Letters, was led by Corey Bradshaw of Flinders University. It shows that population growth shifted into a negative demographic phase in the early 1960s, with the total expected to peak between 11.7 billion and 12.4 billion by the late 2060s or 2070s under current trends.