That’s to be expected, and hoped for, after periods of exponential growth. The fact that population growth is declining is a testament to the drop in extreme poverty and the extension of basic services (like education and social welfare) in the developing world.

Our population is projected to reach 10 billion by mid century and 12 by 2100. Only after that is the global population expected to level off and begin to decline. These fears of “collapse” or saying they are a greater danger than climate change strike me as deflection from our actual problems, which continues to include overpopulation.