Population and climate change

 Overpopulation Project -  Looking at emissions data, it is true that the low-income group’s contribution to global carbon emissions is negligible: only 0.6% every year (average over the last three decades; see Table 1). But population isn’t growing only in the poorest countries. It is also growing rapidly in the two middle groups, with the large majority of global population (76%). The argument that “population growth in poor countries is not worrisome, because poor people do not impact carbon emissions significantly,” does not apply to these middle countries: their carbon emissions are significant! Indeed, the upper-middle group currently emits the most carbon of any group: 51% of the global total. Together, the two middle groups contribute more than 64% of global carbon emissions, almost two-thirds of the total. Moreover, the two middle groups are also the groups that currently are increasing their emissions the most, both total and per capita. The upper middle group is indeed the major contributor to global emission increases.