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By Kristen Carey\nJuly 2019\u00a0(8 Pages)
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Some demographers have begun to argue that world population could peak in the next couple decades, with unprecedented global population decline in the second half of the century. It is widely assumed that fewer people on the planet would lead to many positive environmental, economic, and social outcomes. In this\u00a0Issues in Brief<\/a><\/em>, Kristen Carey challenges the perceived link between population and development, and provides a critique of the evidence that governments or international organizations are even capable of implementing effective demographic policy interventions. She argues that scholars and policymakers must embrace a “story of chaos” rather than pre-determining what various demographic trajectories would mean for development, and prioritize targeted studies that are smaller in scope to achieve incremental improvements in development projects.<\/p>\n