Population Go Boom

10,000: That is approximately how many Homo sapiens existed 200,000 years ago. [5] There may have been as few as 15,000 of us roughly 70,000 years ago. There were only one billion people on the planet as recently as the turn of the 19th century and only a few thousand just 10,000 years ago. [2] It took humanity until the early 19th century to gain its first billion people then another 1.5 billion followed in the next century and a half. In just 60 years the world’s population has gained yet another 4.5 billion. [4] According to the Population Reference Bureau, the world did not reach 1 billion inhabitants until 1800, and it reached 2 billion in 1930. It took only 30 more years to reach 3 billion, 14 years to reach 4 billion, 13 years to reach 5 billion and 12 years to reach both 6 billion and 7 billion. [1] As NPR’s Adam Cole reports it was in 1804, just over two centuries ago, that the global population was 1 billion. [3] The six billionth person on the planet was born on October 12, 1999. [2] “ There is a window of uncertainty of at least six months before and six months after October 31 for the world population to reach seven billion.” Explains United Nations demographer Gerhard Heilig. [6] It is just 12 years since we went through the six billion barrier. [8] The 21st century is not yet a dozen years old, and there are already 1 billion more people than in October 1999. [4] “The addition of four billion people in five decades has no precedent.” Said Columbia University Earth Institute demographer Joel Cohen. “That is an exceptional event and will probably never be repeated within human history.” It may take 14 years to reach eight billion and it may take even longer to reach nine billion. [2] If U.N. projection prove correct, world population will reach 18 billion in just 13 years and 9.3 billion by mid-century. The U.N. has estimated a population of 9.3 billion by 2050, and there is expected to be more than 10 billion people on earth by 2100. [1] The U.N. had more recently predicted a leveling off at nine billion but now says we will reach the 10.1 figure in 2100. [2] U.N. forecasts suggest the world population hit a peak of 10.1 billion by 2100. [3] The median UN forecast is 9.3 billion by 2050, but the range varies by 2.5 billion—the total world population in 1950. [8] UN demographers are now projecting anywhere between 6.2 billion and 15.8 billion people at the end of the century. [4] “We simply don’t know for sure what will be the population size at a certain time in the future”; Demographer Wolfgang Lutz told the IIASA conference; “There are huge uncertainties involved.” “It’s both the most intimate of problems—what people do in their beds—and the most public problem”; Cohen said; “What people do in their bed has externalities that affect people who aren’t in bed with them.” [2] “We’re getting into more and more trouble the bigger the number gets”; Said Population Council vice president John Bongaarts; “Every billion people we add makes life more difficult for everybody that’s already here.” [1] According to U.N. demographers, “peak people” could top out at 10.1 billion. “These estimates are political numbers, intended to persuade people one way or another”; Cohen wrote in his book “How Many People Can The Earth Support”; “Either that too many humans are already on Earth or that there is no problem with continuing rapid population growth.” In the 1990’s, U.N. demographers forecast a peak at 7.8 billion, a milestone we will most likely blow past before 2030. In 1679, microbiologist Anton van Leeuwenhoek calculated the planet could sustain roughly 13.4 billion people. [2]

1. Almond, Kyle. “Just How Big Is 7 Billion?” CNN. Monday October 31, 2011. http://www.cnn.com/2011/10/29/world/7-billion 
2. Biello, David. “Human Population Reaches 7 Billion—How did This Happen And Can It Go On?”. Scientific American. October 27, 2011. http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=human-population-reaches-seven-billion 
3. Cole, Adam. “Visualizing How A Population Grows To 7 Billion”. National Public Radio. October 31, 2011. http://www.npr.org/2011/10/31/141816460/visualizing-how-a-population-grows-to-7-billion 
4. Engleman, Robert. “What A Population Of 7 Billion People Means For The Planet.” The Guardian. Monday July 18, 2011. http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/jul/18/population-7-billion-planet 
5. Keim, Brandon. “Making Sense of 7 Billion People”. Wired. October 31, 2011. http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/10/7-billion-people/ 
6. Mackey, Robert. “Global Population Reaches 7 Billion, or Doesn’t”. The New York Times. October 31, 2011. http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/10/31/celebrations-of-baby-7-billion-sow-confusion/ 
7. Porritt, Jonathon. “Overpopulation: The Global Crisis That Dare Not Speak Its Name”. The Independent. Thursday October 27, 2011. http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/commentators/jonathon-porritt-overpopulation-the-global-crisis-that-dare-not-speak-its-name-2376464.html 
8. Walsh, Bryan. “Why The Real Victim Of Overpopulation Will Be The Environment”. TIME. Wednesday October 26, 2011. http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2097720_2097782_2097814,00.html