Paul Ehrlich

Hundreds of millions of people will starve to death during the 1970s.

“The battle to feed all of humanity is over. In the 1970s hundreds of millions of people will starve to death in spite of any crash programs embarked upon now.”

Said on

1 May 1968 · Opening prologue of The Population Bomb (book published May 1968; first of month used since only month/year known).

Source

Doomster Paul Ehrlich Unrepentant · Reason

Should come true

1970s

How sure they sounded

will; in spite of any crash programs (stated as certain)

Categories

Health

Importance

5 of 5 · A mass famine killing hundreds of millions would be a civilization-scale catastrophe; the claim shaped global population policy.

Outcome

Inaccurate

No global famine killing hundreds of millions occurred in the 1970s; regional famines (e.g. Bangladesh 1974) killed far fewer, while world calories per person rose. Even Ehrlich's own later estimate of 200-300 million hunger deaths was spread over about 40 years, not one decade.

Evidence:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Population_Bomb
• https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/book-incited-worldwide-fear-overpopulation-180967499/