The counter shows how world population is increasing - currently at the rate of somewhat over 70 million per year.
Quaker Concern Over Population (QCOP) is a group of Friends (Quakers) in the UK. Our objectives are to help Friends to appreciate the dangers of over-population, and to point out the relevance of population to the movement to live sustainably in harmony with other species on this planet.
QCOP is a Quaker recognised body. It was set up in 2011 after the writing of the Canterbury Commitment:
“The action we are ready to take at this time is to make a strong corporate commitment to become a low-carbon, sustainable community.”
The Commitment, sadly, did not mention population as a major contributor to increases in carbon production.
The world’s population growth rate has fallen, from 1.4% in 1994 to around 0.9% in 2024. However, since the human population is now much greater than in 1994, our numbers continue to grow by around nearly one billion every 12 years. This staggering figure is the largest ever rise and is clearly unsustainable.
We recognise that four factors which contribute to a very uncertain future for humankind are resource depletion, inequality, climate emergency and biodiversity loss, but we believe that population growth is also a significant contributor which should not be ignored.