Lots of people think that global population is too high and that, therefore, a global system of sharing resources (socialism) is impossible. But a new study by War on Want finds that the world currently produces 2.6 times more than the average person needs. That’s a global overproduction of food.
But instead of this making everyone on the planet fat, 2.3 billion people – 1 in 7 – actually go hungry. Why? Because food production is monopolised by a few agribusinesses that continually restrict supply in order to keep prices and profits high. Capitalism can only sustain itself by imposing artificial scarcity.
Meanwhile, populations are actually stable or falling in most countries. So world population is no barrier to socialism.