Tickets: 4,50 EUR per person payable on the door.

The debate will be in English.

The world’s population is projected to pass seven billion on 31 October 2011. The United Nations Population Fund has announced it will start a seven-day countdown on 24 October, leading up to the birth of the world’s seven billionth baby. Although the event comes at a time when people are generally living longer and healthier lives, the prospect of an ever-expanding human population is widely viewed with trepidation. In the public mind, more and more problems are to be blamed on the world’s rising population. And although 98 per cent of that increase is taking place in less developed countries, while European populations are declining, in fact both developments are perceived as threatening.

Population decline has been presented as a major problem facing German society by countless politicians and state officials. The president of Germany’s Federal Statistics Office, Roderich Egeler, has warned of too much pressure being placed on the country’s welfare and social security systems by an ageing and shrinking population. As Germans look into the future, they see the spectre of budget deficits swelling as millions of elderly people force up spending on pensions, healthcare and nursing homes. Future generations, so it is believed, will not be able to support the generous lifestyle of the current generation of retirees. At the same time, the world’s growing young population is seen as putting an immense strain on the planet. As Germans debate the problems associated with world energy consumption, global warming, carbon footprints and the dangers of atomic power, the age-old question of how many people the Earth can support is being asked once more. To many, it seems clear we are heading for disaster, as food supplies and energy sources wane in the face of increasing demand.

On the other hand, attempts to project particular demographic patterns into the future have proved in the past to be spectacular failures. Should the disproving of past predictions - which warned of populations dying out or of demographic timebombs exploding – encourage us to be more sceptical? Can our current fixation with population be explained by other socially or psychologically determined factors? Even if it could – wouldn’t a reduction in population levels ameliorate many of the most pressing problems of our times? Or is our obsession with population simply misanthropic and reactionary?

This event will be attended by Alan Miller, as a guest representative of the Battle of Ideas Organising Committee