The world’s economy, which is commonly measured by Gross Domestic Product (GDP), didn’t grow much for centuries. Then suddenly, the economy expanded more than hundredfold in the period from 1820 until now and global GDP per capita skyrocketed from $1,128 in 1820 to $15,461 in 2020 (real GDP per capita in 2011$, PPP converted) (Bolt & Van Zanden, 2024).

The “steady 2-3%” economic growth that many inhabitants of high-income nations grew accustomed too, is incredibly extraordinary from this long-run historical perspective. Moreover, while an annual growth rate of 2-3% might not sound so extreme, it is important to realise that this results in exponential growth over time. With a growth rate of 3% the total size of the economy doubles every 23 years. Do you think that the total size of the global economy can and should keep doubling roughly each generation? 

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The global population grew from just under 1 billion in 1820 to 8 billion in 2024. That is 8 times as many people that need water, food, shelter, and other critical consumption goods to live a decent life. The population boom was largely enabled by technological innovation, including energy transitions, the agricultural revolution, and medical advances, which broke the “Malthusian spell” – the idea that population growth would outgrow its means of subsistence, leading to widespread poverty (Malthus, 1798). Throughout the past two centuries, the geographical composition of global population changed drastically. In 1820, 22% were Europeans, which has dropped to 11% in 2022. In 2022, 53% of global population lives in Asia, with only 11% being European. World population is expected to continue growing for another 50 or 60 years, reaching a peak of around 10.3 billion people in the mid-2080s (UN, 2024).

International migration is another factor shaping population trends for many countries around the world. The increasing share of older persons in the global population is another influential factor. The global percentage of people aged 65+ in 1990 was 6.1 and 9.8 in 2022 (World Bank, 2024). This demographic shift has implications for various aspects of society, including labour and financial markets, the demand for goods and services such as housing and social protection systems, as well as for family structures.

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A common way to look at environmental pressures affecting wellbeing is by consideration of “planetary boundaries”. Planetary boundaries refer to the physical and biological limits of the global Earth system that should be respected to maintain planet’s human-friendly living conditions. The planetary boundaries concern: Novel Entities, Stratospheric ozone depletion, Atmospheric aerosol loading, Ocean acidification, Biogeochemical flows, Freshwater use, Land-system change, Biosphere integrity, and Climate change. Currently, seven out of nine planetary boundaries are being transgressed, suggesting that Earth is now well outside of the safe operating space for humanity (PBScience, 2025).

There is political and technological developments that provide some hope for the future – for example, the increasing speed at which renewable energy is adopted (IAE, 2023) – but it is very clear that over the past two centuries, the socioeconomic system has been doing more environmental harm than good. Currently, there’s no signs of sufficient global decoupling of environmental impacts from economic growth (Freire-González et al., 2024; Parrique et al., 2019).

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Technological innovation fuelled globalisation, beginning with railways and coal-fired steamships that expanded global trade. In combination with innovations in communication technologies such as the development of an intercontinental telegraph network and the fax, and a lowering of trade tariffs this allowed the geographical separation of production and consumption, sometimes referred to as the First Unbundling (Baldwin, 2016).

With the rise of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in the late 20th century globalisation accelerated even further, enabling the international separation of companies – a process also known as the Second Unbundling. Globalisation stimulated economic growth in a number of ways including the facilitation of efficiency gains following specialization, increased competition, and economies of scale. As a consequence, a large share of global production shifted to regions where wages were lowest. These regions are often referred to as the Global South.

You can access the full global report here.