b'Population Boom or Bust?We all know the world population is set to hit 9 billion by 2050. Or is it? Darrell Bricker says its not going to happen, and we should prepare to have fewer mouths to feednot more. Marc ZienkiewiczITS COMMON KNOWLEDGE ment of the business community.that the world population is rapidlyEveryone knows the power of youth expanding, set to hit the 9 billion markis what fuels the marketplace. The fact is, by 2050 and keep growing from there.it isnt that way at all.Its inevitable that we will face majorFor Bricker, the commonly held belief challenges as we run out of arable landthat the world population is out of control and face food and water shortages asis a form of vertical knowledge, or has humans vie for the natural resources wehe likes to call it, something we all know all depend on to survive. that isnt actually true. Whether its docu-The problem is, Darrell Bricker says,mentaries focused on the problem of the above scenario isnt going to pan out. overpopulation, politicians giving stump Everyones always talking about thespeeches about it, or even the United population problem and how its outNations (U.N.) predicting a dramatic rise of control, that were having too manyin the number of people on Earth (the babies. That human encroachment willU.N. predicts almost 11 billion people by totally destroy our natural habitat. Its not2100), Bricker says its ingrained in our true, says the CEO of public affairs forsociety to believe humanity is growing global market research firm Ipsos andout of control.co-author of Empty Planet: The Shock ofYes, you read that right: Bricker tells Global Population Decline. our sister publication, Germination, even Furthermore, Bricker says commonthe commonly cited U.N. numbers over-economic wisdom is influenced by thisshoot the mark, and greatly overestimateDarrell Bricker, co-author of Empty Planet: common belief, ultimately to the detri- how many people will be on the planetThe Shock of Global Population Decline.20/ SEEDWORLD.COMSEPTEMBER 2020'