Having Kids recently surveyed 376 people regarding their understanding of family size and population growth.

• A significant number of people correctly see a relationship between family size and human population. About 86% of respondents answered affirmatively when asked whether there is a relationship between the number of children a couple decides to have and human population.
• Though a majority of respondents have an accurate picture of current population numbers and those 50 years ago, a notable minority do not. Forty-one percent of respondents think the current number of people on the planet is either 3.5 billion (15.25%) or 5.5 billion (25.8%) instead of the correct answer of 7.5 billion and that the population in 1970 was either 7 billion (4.3%) or 5.5 billion (32.6%) instead of the correct answer of 3.5 billion.
• Support for Having Kids’ mission remains high. Seventy-two percent of respondents indicated they would be supportive (36.3%) or very supportive (35.4%) of an organization pursuing Having Kids’ mission.
• More education is needed regarding both the current population numbers and the expected growth of these numbers.