The book became a bestseller in many languages. It was hailed by environmentalists. For economists it became their best-hated book. Some of the predictions were either too precise or they were misinterpreted by the critics.
This has led to the regrettable situation that even pro-environmentalists refer to "The Limits of Growth" by saying that they have been proven wrong. That judgement is not valid, however.
In 1992 Meadows, Meadows and Randers wrote "Beyond the Limits - Confronting Global Collapse - Envisioning a Sustainable Future".
In 1972 they concluded that the limits would be reached in the next 100 years. In 1992 they show that the world has already overshot some of its limits.

But the world has taken little notice. Today, at the end of the 20th century, people talk about the "new millennium" and continued growth is the one and only paradigm of our business and political leaders.
They do not seem to realise than our planet is finite indeed, and that a millennium counts one thousand years.
A continuation of the present trends in production, consumption and pollution will most probably lead to a maximum within the next 50 years. The development graph shows the pricipal variables of this development.