The 20th century saw explosive population growth, fueled by a combination of declining infant mortality, decreasing violence and steady growth in agricultural productivity. These trends resulted in large part from technological advances — like chemical fertilizers, genetically modified food, antibiotics, and vaccines — which acted as a tremendous boon to human welfare. By the 1970s, some were convinced that population growth would soon lead us back to a dark age of famine, disease and war. But they were wrong.
http://quillette.com/2017/02/02/if-youre-reading-this-essay-you-should-probably-have-more-children/
