David Attenborough: The planet can’t cope with overpopulation

The naturalist David Attenborough once said the creature he finds «most extraordinary» is a nine-month-old human baby. But now he believes the planet can’t sustain many more.

In an interview for BBC Newsnight, the 92-year-old British broadcaster said: “In the long run, population growth has to come to an end. There are some reasons for thinking that will happen almost inevitably.

“But it is very alarming at the rate we’re going, and although people will say, ‘In the long run, we are going to stabilize’, they’re going to stabilize – as far as I can see – at a rather higher level than the Earth can really accommodate.”

Roughly 83 million people are added to the world’s population each year, according to the UN, with modern advances in medicine and nutrition to thank for their survival into adulthood and old age.

But while fertility levels (and birth rates) are dropping globally, the overall trend is continued population growth, with increasing pressure on the planet’s limited resources – and impact on the environment.