According to a new report by the United Nations, this autumn the world's population is expected to hit seven billion, and will reach 10 billion or more by the end of the century.

The figures showed "the bad news continuing" in terms of global population, Roger Martin, chairman of Population Matters, argued.

"It's not sustainable on a finite planet, and I think we all know it... this is just more evidence that the storm is approaching"

But Brendan O'Neill, editor of the online magazine Spiked, believes there is no problem of over-population. It is a "myth", he said, propagated by environmentalists and "other assorted scaremongers".

"The problem in the world today is not too many people, it is not enough development," he said.

"There is no limit to how many people we can have, so long as we focus on having enough economic growth and social development."

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