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At 9 am (GMT) on 15 November 2022, the human population will reach 8 billion. Biodiversity loss, climate change, pollution, deforestation, water and food shortage - these are all exacerbated by our huge and ever-increasing numbers. Our impact on the environment is a product of our consumption and our numbers. 

At the root of our environmental crisis is the simple reality that we are asking more of our planet than it can provide, and producing more waste and emissions than it can handle. If we’re to fix this crisis and ensure a decent future for ourselves and the natural world, that has to change.

Nature is under pressure from humans as never before. Population Matters' new, overarching biodiversity campaign, HUMANATURE, calls for action to slow human population growth and to protect our precious planet and the species we share it with. Read more here and get involved. 

Population Matters' 2021 report, Welcome to Gilead, examined how policymakers across the world are promoting and implementing policies to increase birth rates that abuse women's reproductive rights. Find the latest developments and news here.

The United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) aim to achieve decent lives for all on a healthy planet by 2030. As things stand, most of them are likely to be missed. This is partly because they fail to address human population growth.

Unsustainable population is a global problem requiring international solutions. Individual nations face their own population challenges, however, and action by national governments will be key to securing a sustainable global population.

As a UK-based organisation, Population Matters is calling on the British government to adopt a globally minded, strategic and ethical Sustainable Population Policy.