A broadcast on Belarusian Radio discussed a Daily Mail article about a study in which the authors linked global population growth to increased emissions, energy consumption, pesticide use, and plastic waste. Maksim Kharyn, the host, presented the scientists’ conclusions as a proposal to destroy society to save the planet’s resources. But the study was about something else entirely.
Context: On July 29, the Daily Mail published an article about a study in which the authors expressed their belief that a world population exceeding 11 billion by 2100 would have severe consequences. According to their estimates, this could nearly double CO₂ emissions, energy consumption, and pesticide use, and quadruple the volume of plastic waste, compared to current levels. Scientists believe that gradually reducing the population over the next 200 years would ensure that there are enough resources for everyone.
On August 6, 2026, during a broadcast on Belarusian Radio’s First National Channel, host Maksim Kharyn claimed that Western scientists are proposing to destroy society.
“Here you have Belarus, thinking about how to feed its people. And then there’s another part of the world — though I wouldn’t call it part of the enlightened world, because, as far as I’m concerned, there’s no light there — that is thinking about how to reduce the world’s population to preserve the planet’s resources. And there’s another paradox here: they propose destroying society for the sake of the planet’s resources. In other words, the planet’s resources are, essentially, needed by society so that people can live, and yet they say, ‘Let’s preserve the resources while destroying society,’” Kharyn said.
This conclusion does not follow from the study. Rather than proposing the forced reduction of the population or the extermination of the existing population, it focused on a gradual, non-coercive decline in the fertility rate. The authors discussed family planning, accessible contraception, education, and women’s empowerment. Currently, the global average is 2.2 children per woman, and this figure has been declining recently. The researchers propose reducing it to 1.75 by 2050 and maintaining it at that level thereafter.
In other words, the scientists are proposing a gradual reduction in the fertility rate, not extermination. These are fundamentally different things. By the way, Belarus's total fertility rate is already trending in the direction described by the study’s authors.
