population bomb
Overpopulation crisis metaphor
Population bomb refers to the theory, prominent in the late 1960s and 1970s, that unchecked human population growth would lead to catastrophic resource depletion, mass famine, and societal collapse.
The term comes from Paul Ehrlich's 1968 book *The Population Bomb*, which predicted imminent global disaster.
The phrase now often carries skeptical connotations, as many of its dire predictions failed to materialize: Critics dismiss population bomb rhetoric as alarmist.
- overpopulationUnsustainable density of inhabitants
- MalthusPopulation-growth doomsayer
- famineSevere food shortage
- mass starvationWidespread fatal hunger
- demographicStatistical population category
Paul Ehrlich · explosion · crisis · fertility · family planning · birth rate · starvation · scarcity · resource depletion · resources · collapse · crowding · standing room only · ticking · apocalypse · growth · exponential · doomsday
- demographicsage distribution, gender ratio, ethnic groups, birth rate, census data
- pseudosciencehomeopathy, astrology, phrenology, numerology, palmistry
- MalthusianismMalthusianism, geometric growth, moral restraint, misery, vice
population bombpopulation collapse
Rapid severe decline in numbers
population decline · depopulation · underpopulation · baby bust · population aging
population, bomb, populate, populated, populating, depopulate, depopulation, populous, populace