Choose your own priorities on our interactive table

Issues: conflict l global warming l disease l hunger l terrorism

Like the Copenhagen Consensus expert jury, Times Online readers who have been voting this week on ten of the options presented to the panel have chosen improving nutrition as the world’s main priority.

The provision of micronutrient supplements, to prevent avoidable deficiencies in vitamin A and zinc, topped the league table on Times Online, and the second malnutrition option – education about the importance of balanced diets – finished third in the poll. Malaria control split the two, in second place.

An introduction to the Copenhagen Consensus

Economists battle it out to rank possible solutions for the great challenges in global stability and security

Multimedia

• Make your own rankings on our interactive table

BACKGROUND

• Copenhagen Consensus: conflict

• Copenhagen Consensus: disease

• Copenhagen Consensus: global warming

• Copenhagen Consensus: hunger

• Copenhagen Consensus: terrorism

Related Links

• 'Forget climate change and spend on nutrition'

Many readers, however, felt the Copenhagen Consensus had missed an elephant in the room in its discussion of global challenges: the world’s ever-expanding population.

Approximately half the comments we received on the exercise mentioned overpopulation as the biggest crisis of all, and as a fundamental contributing factor to many of the more detailed problems considered by the expert panel of economists.

The world’s current population stands at 6.7 billion – more than double the figure in 1965 and four times the figure in 1900 – it is growing by 75 million people a year, and it is forecast to rise to 9bn by 2050 before levelling off later in the century.

Many posters pointed out that issues on the Copenhagen agenda, such as global warming, hunger, pollution, conflict and terrorism are all fed by population levels that are greater than economies and natural resources can easily sustain.

As Gareth, from St Albans, put it, in one of the first postings, the number one priority is: “none of the above. Overpopulation is the mother of them all.” Gerry, from Exeter, was in full agreement: “Solve that, and the others vanish,” he wrote.

Several scientists have also recently highlighted the issue, such as Professor Chris Rapley, the director of the Science Museum and former head of the British Antarctic Survey.

Times readers, however, were less forthcoming about solutions to the world’s booming population, though some mentioned improved birth control and education.

Bjorn Lomborg, director of the Copenhagen Consensus Centre, said: “The panel did talk about population in many of their discussions, but the main reason it wasn’t on our list of challenges was that we don’t have any obvious good solutions.

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