Everyone, please read the fucking link.
Please read enough on demography to understand that people with a high mortality rate tend to have more children to balance that mortality rate. This balancing ensures both societal survival and survival of enough offspring to care for parents in old age.
When the mortality rate drops suddenly, due to things like improved sanitation, health care and nutrition that relatively high birth rate will lag for a while.
There can be balance or slight growth when high infant mortality rate ~= high birth rate
OR when low infant mortality rate ~= low birth rate. However when infant mortality rate declines sharply and birth rate remains high we see that surge in total population.
After a relatively short period of time (the article mentions 1/2 generation) people adjust to the new reality and birth rate declines to match infant mortality rate.
If we can shorten that time lag we will have fewer mouths to feed, fewer people will starve to death, fewer wars will begin because of competition for resources. Those fewer people will live longer, healthier, happier more productive lives.
The alternative?And yes, we have too many people on this planet for current technology to support infinitely. Energy is likely the long-term limiting factor...