The New York Times notes that populations are expanding fastest where it is most difficult to grow food — and they’re not referring to Hong Kong and Singapore, but sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East:
The world’s population is projected to grow to 9 billion before 2050. Proportionally, the countries in Northern Africa and the Middle East are among the fastest growing. But those are the world’s driest regions, and by 2050, fresh water there will be twice as scarce.
We in the West may not be caught in a Malthusian Trap, but we seem determined to ignore the unintended side-effects of our aid to less developed countries that are.
