We are conscious that the term “overpopulation” has a history of association with perspectives that disproportionately blamed the world’s high-fertility poor regions for the ecological crisis, some of which also led to coercive policies that violated human rights. While such perspectives and policies must be denounced, the scientific and ecological basis of the fact that there are too many of us cannot be denied.

The word “overpopulation” has a longer history as a term used simply to describe organisms that exceed the carrying capacity of their ecosystems. As part of the web of life, humans are not exempt from inclusion in this group. We use the term overpopulation to place our species within that web rather than above it.

What does it mean to say that our species has exceeded the carrying capacity of the planet? Today humanity, one lifeform among countless, uses half of Earth’s ice-free surface to grow food and has demolished marine biodiversity by over-extraction of sea life and destruction of sea habitats. Earth’s ecosystems and wildlife are in freefall, while the contamination of the biosphere by industrial civilization burgeons. Both these woes, ecological devastation and global toxification, continue to spiral planetary health out of bounds, with no end in sight. Overpopulation—sheer numbers of people—is a major factor behind them.

Exceeding carrying capacity is not only connected to human numbers but to how much humanity chooses to consume. Humanity’s dominant culture seems to have opted for a modern consumer lifestyle, along with its amenities, technologies, mobility, and interconnectivity. The excesses of this lifestyle need to be curtailed, but human numbers must also be lowered if we want to avert mass extinction and a biologically degraded and polluted planet. In agreement with a number of environmental scientists, we advocate for a global human population in the ballpark of 2 to 3 billion people living equitably with each other and with all life. Population degrowth is achievable within a human-rights framework.

We wish to reclaim the term “overpopulation” as a feminist concept. Seen through a lens of social justice, overpopulation is the result of pronatalism, driven by patriarchal forces that compel people, especially girls and women, to have children and large families regardless of their individual preference. Pronatalism not only undermines reproductive choice but also the rights of children to be born into conditions conducive to their wellbeing - socially, materially, and ecologically. By countering pronatalism and empowering reproductive choice, we uplift motherhood (and parenthood) into a deliberate and mindful decision. When women achieve reproductive freedom and the means to regulate their fertility, they tend to have fewer or no children. Empowering girls and women, specifically by confronting harmful patriarchal and pronatalist norms, is the pathway to a smaller global population that can enjoy a high quality of life within an ecologically flourishing biosphere.

Human overpopulation is not the only factor driving ecological overshoot, but it is the most neglected one, and the factor that adds scale to every crisis confronting us. This is why we tackle overpopulation along with the other major drivers, including overconsumption, technological solutionism, human supremacy, and free-market fundamentalism.

Overpopulation is a term describing an excessive level of human presence that damages the natural world through overdraw and through enormous waste flows. Overpopulation is not only ecologically unjust, it is also founded on social injustice, for it is driven by patriarchal pronatalist forces that pressure, or even coerce, girls and women to reproduce.

At Population Balance, we fearlessly confront overpopulation in the name of both ecological and social justice.