On 15 November 2022, the world’s population surpassed 8 billion people. Our human family is now larger than ever before. Collectively, we live longer and enjoy healthier lives than at any other point in human history.

At 8 billion strong, the world’s populationis the largest it’s ever been.

At this landmark demographic moment, it can be tempting to draw the easy conclusion that population dynamics are the root cause of multiple, intersecting challenges facing our world. Some blame dwindling resources and raging conflicts on there being ‘too many’ of us; others fear falling birth rates will leave the planet devoid of people, with ‘too few’ of us to sustain life as we know it.

Yet ours is also a world of anxiety and uncertainty. Challenges like climate change, economic upheaval, conflict and COVID-19 have brought us to a crossroads, where the threat of a worse future for humanity feels just as possible as the promise of a better one.