Why is population an important topic?
The human race has an enormous impact on this planet! We control and modify the Earth more than any other species. How do we meet the needs of human beings and also preserve Earth's finite resources, biodiversity, and natural beauty? This is the fundamental question of our time, and the challenge is becoming more critical as we continue to add more people.
I've heard some say the world population crisis is over and that it's not a problem anymore. Is this true?
No, absolutely not. First of all, we are vastly overpopulated right now with over 7 billion people. Research conducted by the Global Footprint Network suggests that about 2 to 3 billion people is the number the planet can sustainably support, if everyone consumes the same amount of resources as the average European (which is about 60% the amount of the average American). Secondly, U.N. experts predict that, unless we change course, world population will continue increasing until after 2100, with a "most likely" prediction of 10.9 billion people by the year 2100.
There's no doubt that the worldwide average number of children per family has come down over the last 50 years -- from more than 5 per woman to around 2.4 -- but: (1) the current average is still well above replacement level, which would be 2.1 children per woman, and (2) the number of women having children is about TWICE what it was in 1960. There is also huge "demographic momentum," since over 2/5 of the world's population is age 24 or younger -- either having children now, or poised to have them in the next 10 to 15 years. Any changes we make today may not have a visible effect until a generation has passed.
Finally, people are living longer all over the world and will continue to do so, with a resultant slowdown in death rates. Thus, there's a big imbalance in the birth to death ratio: currently more than 2 births for every 1 death worldwide.
Do we know exactly how many people there are in the world today?
No. There are so many people on this planet that counting them up, exactly, is impossible. However, experts believe there are approximately 7.7 billion people in the world today. World population in 2020 is over 2 times greater than it was 50 years ago, 4 times greater than it was 100 years ago, and about 10 times greater than 300 years ago. After growing very slowly for tens of thousands of years, world population has grown very rapidly in the last few centuries and continues to do so.
How fast is the world's population growing?
In terms of net gain (births minus deaths), we are adding over 220,000 people to this planet every day, or over 150 people every minute. That equals over 80 million more people every year, about the same as the combined populations of California and Canada. Although we have made encouraging progress in slowing the growth rate, our current population is unsustainable. To create long-term sustainability we must first stabilize and then reduce global population humanely through dramatic and voluntary reduction in birth rates.
Are there any parts of the world where population is not growing?
Yes. Roughly speaking, populations are holding stable in Western Europe. Populations are decreasing somewhat in Russia, Japan, and some Eastern European countries. But population is growing either rapidly or very rapidly in every other part of the world right now, including India, Pakistan, most of the Middle East, most of Africa, the United States of America, Australia, and China. Result: the annual net gain of over 80 million people!
So much of the world is still empty space -- can't people just move to less crowded places?
You will find the answer somewhere in there GL :)
