The relationship between educational level, socioeconomic level and variation in the demographic rate is well known. Along these lines, the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) has published projections that relate its estimates of educational level and population growth. The exercise shows some interesting conclusions. The first is that, crossing both variables, the projections indicate that the world population ceiling will be lower than that projected by the United Nations.

IIASA's projections also show that the world will be inhabited by people with increasing levels of education: by the end of this century virtually the entire population of the planet will have received some degree of education. The vast majority will have secondary or post-secondary education. This segment of the population, which numbered 700 million in 1970, will reach 7 billion by the end of the 21st century, a mass similar to the planet's current population.