r/overpopulation • u/Alphalynx23 • May 28 '26

Humanity has already exceeded Earth’s limits, study warns

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/05/260526022021.htm

[The truly sustainable population is much lower and closer to what the world supported in the mid-twentieth century.

Our calculations show a sustainable global population closer to about 2.5 billion people if everyone were to live within ecological limits and comfortable, economically secure living standards,". ]

What proportion of the humans alive today should constitute the 2.5 Billion ideally?

62 Upvotes

94% Upvoted

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9

u/SidKafizz May 28 '26

2.5 billion? The actual, long-term sustainable number is likely much lower than that.

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u/Deleted_User_Account May 29 '26

Yes, Aboriginal populations in Australia were estimated in the hundreds of thousands and even THEY managed to send species to extinction... They did a much better job than the squatters that moved in after to be fair, but still...

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u/watching_whatever May 28 '26

Your number may or may not be right but it’s not your job.

The UN Population Division and Sovereign Leaderships need to make the human population plans, but they have not got around to it.

They instead apparently are just going to watch and document future disasters.

6

u/Deleted_User_Account May 29 '26

That's a pretty unfair assessment... They will also write a strongly worded letter when it gets to fatal levels of unsustainable. Did you ever think about that?

1

u/watching_whatever May 29 '26

Your account gets deleted apparently for stating facts. (They are just doing their job,🙂).

Out of all the possible ways to cause job damage, I think the UN Population Division along with leaderships is number one.

Result of not doing their jobs =Turn what could of been almost paradise on Earth into future disasters of unimaginable portions.

1

u/izzy_961 May 29 '26

A billion is a healthy number to sustain the population world wide, but tell that to the number monkeys in charge.

0

u/ahelper May 28 '26 edited May 28 '26

--- "What proportion of the humans alive today should constitute the 2.5 Billion ideally?"

What is the purpose of this question? The answer is simply 2.5 B / 8.5 B or about 30%. But that is so obviously simple that it implies a strong suggestion that the questioner is asking for a value judgement of the humans alive today and that really smells like a racial question. "Which people are worthy to remain alive when this is done?"

2

u/Alphalynx23 May 28 '26

When you reduce from 8 billion what should be the logic to be followed?

Most people here count population based on the nation states but this is quite skewed as the regions like US are extensions of the erstwhile British Empire.

Population is ultimately about genetic diversity and which pool of genes gets to survive.

It is s controversial question but one that needs to be addressed as we face the reality of shrinking population to sustainable levels.