Hello; One of my topics of interest from the 1970's has been human population. Probably dates further back to the late 1960's during my quest for an undergrad degree in biology. I still have at least one of the ecology textbooks of the time. I know it was sections concerning population dynamics which sparked the interest.
Anyway the gist of the link seems to be that rural populations have been seriously undercounted. That there may be perhaps a billion or more of an undercount in commonly used data bases.
At least one source referenced is the numbers of displaced people when dams are built. Apparently, there are more registered than thought when the dam projects start.
It seems hard to believe that so many population estimates...over so many years...done by so many researchers...could be so wrong...and all in the same direction, i.e. they were all underestimations. Sounds like yet another example of irresponsible journalism, working hard to keep us all as frightened and nervous as possible. It's getting a bit tiresome. I mean, an overestimation wouldn't be nearly as much of a looming disaster...if nothing else it would mean that we had more time before the hammer falls...so let's not report that!
These people can't even decide which disaster or apocalypse or natural catastrophe is the best one to use for the purpose of keeping everybody terrified. They just keep on rolling new ones out along with the older threats. Will we be wiped out by a tired, dusty old killer asteroid or giant earthquake...everybody likes the classics!...or is it cooler to worry about stuff like violent solar storms wiping out the electrical grid and thrusting us back into the Stone Age? Zombies were in vogue for awhile, and then started to get stale...but then Covid hit and revitalized the whole virus pandemic theme. Today is Saturday; I think that's either Alien Invasion day or Supervolcano day. I know for a fact that the Rise of AI is scheduled for Tuesday, and I really think the Rogue Black Hole and Killer Gamma-Ray Pulsar ideas haven't gotten the airtime they deserve.
I'm especially fond of those ideas that the doomsayers trumpet "This is inevitable; it's just a question of when..." ; then they point out the killer asteroid hitting Earth 65 million years ago and intone "See? SEE???"
I'm glad that
Ulu got to comment on this thread before California slides into the Pacific; you're cutting it close there, buddy...
