In the Marvel film Avengers: Endgame, the villain Thanos believes wiping out half the universe's population is the only way to save it. While scientists are not advocating anything remotely similar, a new study has sparked debate by proposing that the global population should gradually decline to around 4 billion by the year 2200 to reduce pressure on Earth's ecosystems and natural resources.
The proposal, published in the journal Sustainable Development, calls for a voluntary reduction in population growth through greater access to family planning, education and reproductive healthcare—not through coercive population control.
