Science has recently published a special issue on world population growth. In case you don’t have time to read it, they’ve produced the following short video covering some of the main points.
Here are just a few of the key points from the video:
- From 1900 to the year 2000, world population went from 1.6 billion to an astounding 6.1 billion.
- World population is expected to pass 7 billion in late October 2011.
- The UN predicts that world population could reach 9.3 billion by 2050.
- Latest projections put the population at 10 billion around 2100.
- World population is growing fast. 4 Billion people have been added to the planet since 1950.
- The time it takes to add 1 billion people has dropped to just 13 years.
- Less developed countries are growing rapidly while more developed countries are growing slowly.
- The period of most rapid population growth is now behind us.
- Most of the population growth in the last 50 years has been due to huge gains in life expectancy in developing countries, reflecting advances in health and medicine.
- In the last 50 years the global fertility rate has dropped from 5 to 2.5.
- The average woman in developing countries including China has 3 children, down from 6.
- Nearly all population growth between now and 2050 will occur in developing countries.
- By 2050, more and more people will be living in cities. By 2025 the biggest city is expected to be Tokyo with over 37 million people.
Via Grist
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