From overpopulation to the Sun – when humanity faces extinction

Scientists have refuted the 1960s prediction by physicist Heinz von Foerster about a doomsday caused by Earth's overpopulation in November 2026. Modern demographers note a slowdown in population growth rates. Scientists see the real threat to the planet in the evolution of the Sun a billion years from now.

Scientists have refuted the 1960s prediction by physicist Heinz von Foerster about a doomsday caused by Earth's overpopulation in November 2026. Von Foerster developed the "Doomsday Equation" by analyzing historical data on population growth and pinpointed the exact date of the apocalypse: Friday, November 13, 2026. Modern demographers and mathematicians note that population growth rates have significantly slowed: if in the 1960s the number of people doubled every 32 years, today this process takes about 83 years. According to UN forecasts, a peak of 10.3 billion people is expected only in the 2080s, after which the figure will begin to decline. Scientists see the real threat to the planet's existence in the evolution of the Sun. According to a joint study by specialists from Toho University in Japan and NASA, which conducted 400,000 computer simulations, Earth will become uninhabitable only in a billion years.