Are there too many people? Billions are suffering from water shortages — and it is getting worse. Some people blame overpopulation. Others think the solution is better management.
Quarter of humans face ‘extreme water stress’
Turning tides: Twenty-five countries are already using 80% of their water supplies every year. Glossary
Extinction - Completely dying out.
Trillion - One thousand times bigger than a billion.
Thomas Malthus - A clergyman who was interested in maths and political thought and became famous for his extremely influential work An Essay on the Principle of Population. Predictions about population growth leading to food shortages are known as “Malthusian” after him.
Famine - A widespread scarcity of food.
Plato - One of the most important Ancient Greek philosophers.
Commodity - A useful thing. The word has the same origin as "commode", the name of an old type of toilet.
Industrialisation - A period of social and economic change that transforms an agricultural society into an industrial one.