Population ecologist William Rees suggests that planet Earth could be headed for a major population correction—perhaps before the end of this century. Such a correction, he notes, would be a drastic reduction in human population.
The number of humans on Earth reached 8 billion in November 2022. Now a new report suggests that the world's population may peak at just 9 billion by 2050, a number far lower than previously thought.
By the 2060s there'll be maybe another two billion people on Earth. Just a few decades later, numbers will drop as fertility rates decline and nations like Japan and Italy lose as much as half of their population.
Only a drastic improvement in efficiency would allow the planet to manage a higher standard of living.