Concerns about the growth of population and it’s impact on the environment has been a topic of much discussion as of late. A new study published in a journal of the National Academy of Sciences concludes that population controls (like China’s one child policy) will do nothing to stop population growth and will not to prevent a growing population’s impact on the environment.

The reports, like the one published by BBC, still tend to take a Malthusian view that the larger the population the more demand for resources will grow. Even measures like forced sterilization would not curb population growth. However, it does not take into account the fact that when populations become wealthier the demand for more people and having more children decreases. The fact is Earth’s population growth is not dangerous nor is it bad for the environment. It is actually quite the opposite as the video below explains.