Category: Politics

The Economist: Demography is Back

Editors

In its May 19th 2012 issue, The Economist magazine writes:

DEMOGRAPHY is back. Not that its subject matter—the size and structure of populations—ever went away. But from the 1980s to the late 2000s demography retreated to the wings of public debate, a concern mostly of geeks and obsessives. Over the past few years, though, that has started to change. Population science is once more centre-stage, pushed by climate change, which raises worries about the impact so many billions have on the environment of the earth, and food-price spikes, which imply doubts about whether it will be possible to feed them all. read more.

Bjørn Lomborg: How To Get Food on Every Table

Editors

Bjørn Lomborg writes in Slate:

We have enough food to feed everyone. But we need to produce even more. Here is why.

The problem of hunger can be solved. The planet creates more than enough food to meet everyone’s needs. But there are still about 925 million hungry people in the world, and nearly 180 million preschool-age children do not get vital nutrients.

In 2008, the last global Copenhagen Consensus project focused attention on the problem of hidden hunger. A team of Nobel laureate economists found that micronutrient interventions—fortification and supplements designed to increase nutrient intake—were the most effective investment that could be made, with massive benefits for a tiny price tag.  read more.