The world population, the number of people in the world, is 6.77 billion as of July 2009. Before farming there were only a million people in the world. Before industry it grew to a billion over thousands of years. But now with industry it has exploded to six times that in just 200 years.
The world population in millions:
- 3000 BC: 25
- 2000 BC: 35
- 1000 BC: 50
- AD 0001: 200
- AD 1000: 310
- AD 2000: 6071
Of all the people who have ever lived, about 6% are alive right now.
The Roman Empire had maybe 55 million people in the 300s – about the same as China in the 1300s, America in the 1880s and Italy now. The land that the Roman Empire used to rule now has 673 million people – 12 times as many, half of them living in Britain, France, Italy, Egypt and Turkey.
Several things caused this, but the big one is wiping out childhood diseases. In the early 1700s most children in London did not live to see the age of five! Even in the early 1800s almost a third died before then. Now it is the exception. So Britain has gone from 5 million in Shakespeare’s time to 62 million now.
When the billion marks were or will (probably) be reached;
- 1804: 1000
- 1927: 2000
- 1959: 3000
- 1974: 4000
- 1987: 5000
- 1999: 6000
- 2012: 7000
- 2025: 8000
- 2040: 9000
It is expected to level off before it ever reaches 10 billion.
Almost all of the remaining growth will be in Africa, West Asia and South Asia (pictured above). That is where most people still live in the country, where many children still die of disease and where women still have three or more children.
Most women in the world have two children, believe it or not, but in parts of Europe it is less than that – more people are dying than are being born! In Latin America women have two to three children, in India it is three and in much of Africa and the Middle East it is four or more. These numbers have come way down since the 1960s.
Where the billions live:
- 0.9 Europe + Siberia
- 0.9 Americas
- 1.3 Africa / West Asia
- 1.5 South Asia
- 1.3 China
- 0.8 Rest of Asia and the Pacific
Africa, West Asia and South Asia have almost 3 billion people between them.
Percentages by continent (2011):
- 25% Western
- 10% Europe
- 14% Americas
- 8% North America
- 6% South America
- 1% Oceania
- 75% non-Western
- 15% Africa
- 60% Asia
Here is how the world map looks if countries are drawn by the size of their populations:
In 2050 the map will look pretty much the same except that Africa and the Indian subcontinent will be much bigger.
The top ten countries in 2008 were:
- 1330m – China
- 1148m – India
- 304m – USA
- 237m – Indonesia
- 196m – Brazil
- 173m – Pakistan
- 154m – Bangladesh
- 146m – Nigeria
- 141m – Russia
- 127m – Japan
By 2050 Russia and Japan will fall out of the top ten and DR Congo and Ethiopia will take their place. India will be number one by then while Nigeria will have doubled in size and Pakistan will have grown hugely:
- 1628m – India
- 1437m – China
- 420m – USA
- 299m – Nigeria
- 295m – Pakistan
- 285m – Indonesia
- 260m – Brazil
- 231m – Bangladesh
- 183m – DR Congo
- 145m – Ethiopia
– Abagond, 2009, 2016.
See also:
I guess the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere would have been half the human population if the Axis had succeeded.
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Without petroleum and natural gas (for large scale farming and fertilizer..) it is estimated that the world can only sustain 2 billion people. I suspect even the US may have a food crisis this century.
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This exponential growth is why we are forced to have pesticides in our food, genetically-modified foods and growth hormones. There’s no other way to keep up with ever expanding demand. Organic food has been relegated to a niche market for the wealthy.
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Btw, it’s unfortunate that an important post like this has only attracted only a few responses.
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Have to get some stringent rules to control this growth rate.
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It does not attract a lot of comments because its not controversial or arouse deep emotions like violence,race or sex.
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