Sir David Attenborough warns against large families and predicts things will only get worse. So STOP IT; Third World Countries

Sir David Attenborough has said that he is not optimistic about the future and that people should be persuaded against having large families.

The broadcaster and naturalist, who earlier this year described humans as "a plague on Earth", also said he believed humans have stopped evolving physically and genetically because of birth control and abortion, but that cultural evolution is proceeding "with extraordinary swiftness".

"We stopped natural selection as soon as we started being able to rear 90-95% of our babies that are born. We are the only species to have put a halt to natural selection, of its own free will, as it were," he tells this week's Radio Times.

"Stopping natural selection is not as important, or depressing, as it might sound – because our evolution is now cultural … We can inherit a knowledge of computers or television, electronics, aeroplanes and so on."

Attenborough said he was not optimistic about the future and "things are going to get worse".

"I don't think we are going to become extinct. We're very clever and extremely resourceful – and we will find ways of preserving ourselves, of that I'm sure. But whether our lives will be as rich as they are now is another question.

"We may reduce in numbers; that would actually be a help, though the chances of it happening within the next century is very small. I should think it's impossible, in fact."

The broadcaster, who is a patron of the charity Population Matters,   More at source

THE WORLD POPULATION AND THE TOP TENCOUNTRIES WITH THE HIGHEST POPULATION

The ten countries with the largest population in the world are
China, India, United States, Indonesia, Brazil, Pakistan,
Bangladesh, Nigeria, Russia and Japan.

1.033 billion (2011)

Africa, Population

Makes you say WHAT and Why Isn't AFRICA LISTED?

TOP TEN COUNTRIES WITH THE HIGHEST POPULATION
#	Country	2000 Population	2010 Population	2012 Population	2050 Expected Pop.
1	China	1,268,853,362	1,330,141,295	1,343,239,923	1,303,723,332
2	India	1,004,124,224	1,173,108,018	1,205,073,612	1,656,553,632
3	United States	282,338,631	310,232,863	313,847,465	439,010,253
4	Indonesia	213,829,469	242,968,342	248,645,008	313,020,847
5	Brazil	176,319,621	201,103,330	193,946,886	260,692,493
6	Pakistan	146,404,914	184,404,791	190,291,129	276,428,758
7	Nigeria	123,178,818	152,217,341	170,123,740	264,262,405
8	Bangladesh	130,406,594	156,118,464	161,083,804	233,587,279
9	Russia	146,709,971	139,390,205	142,517,670	109,187,353
10	Japan	126,729,223	126,804,433	127,368,088	93,673,826
TOP TEN Countries		3,618,894,827	4,016,489,082	4,096,137,325	4,950,140,178
Rest of the World		2,466,012,769	2,829,120,878	2,921,709,597	4,306,202,522
TOTAL World Population		6,084,907,596	6,845,609,960	7,017,846,922	9,256,342,700
NOTES: (1) The Top 10 Most Populated Countries of the World Table was updated for June 30, 2012. (2) Detailed data for individual countries may be found clicking on each country name. (3) Demographic (population) estimates for years 2000, 2010, 2012 and 2050 are based mainly on mid-year data from the US Census Bureau website. (4) The China population data is for the mainland only. (5) Data from the Internet World Stats website may be cited, giving the due credit and establishing an active link back to Internet World Stats. (6) For definitions, navigation help and methodology, see the Site Surfing Guide. Copyright © 2001 - 2013, Miniwatts Marketing Group. All rights reserved worldwide.

Crowded planet: Global population hits 7 billion + Africa

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   Africa’s frightening population growth

   

   Food security

   Evan Vucci,The Associated Press

   U.S. President Barack Obama looks at rice crops during a food security expo Friday in Dakar, Senegal. Africa's population is expected to grow to 4.1 billion by 2100 from 1.1 billion today.

   The news on the population front sounds bad: birth rates are not dropping as fast as expected, and we are likely to end up with an even bigger world population by the end of the century.