A real-world analysis of a controversial prediction made 30 years ago in the book Limits to Growth concludes that economic growth cannot be sustained and we are on track for serious economic collapse this century.

Graham Turner at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) in Australia has compared the book’s predictions with data from the intervening years. Changes in industrial production, resource depletion, population growth, food production, and pollution are all in line with the book’s predictions of collapse in the 21st century, he found.