The world population is the total number of living humans on the planet Earth. It is currently estimated to be 6.97 billion by the United States Census Bureau.[1] According to a separate estimate by the United Nations, it is approximately 7 billion.[2] The world population has experienced continuous growth since the end of the Great Famine and Bubonic Plague in 1350, when it stood at around 370 million.[3] The highest rates of growth?increases above 1.8% per year?were seen briefly during the 1950s, and for a longer period during the 1960s and 1970s. The growth rate peaked at 2.2% in 1963, and had declined to 1.1% by 2009. Current projections show a continued increase in population (but a steady decline in the population growth rate), with the global population expected to reach between 7.5 and 10.5 billion by 2050.[4][5][6]
When I was born in 1945 the population of Earth was 2.3 Billion people. During the sixties it reached 3 Billion. Tomorrow it hits 7 Billion.
I have serious doubts it will require 40 years to hit 10 Billion.
Quote:
Milestones by the billions
World population milestones (USCB estimates)
Population
(in billions) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Year 1804 1927 1960 1974 1987 1999 2011 2027 2046
Years elapsed ?? 123 33 14 13 12 12 15 19
It is estimated that the population of the world reached one billion for the first time in 1805. It would be another 122 years before it reached two billion in 1927, but it took only 33 years to rise by another billion people, reaching three billion in 1960. Thereafter, the global population reached four billion in 1974, five billion in 1987, six billion in 1999 and, by some estimates, seven billion in October 2011.[2] It is projected to reach eight billion by 2025?2030. According to current projections, the world's population is likely to reach around nine billion by 2045?2050, with alternative scenarios ranging from a low of 7.4 billion to a high of more than 10.6 billion.[9][10][11][12][13] Projected figures vary depending on underlying statistical assumptions and which variables are manipulated in projection calculations, especially the fertility variable. Long-range predictions to 2150 range from a population decline to 3.2 billion in the 'low scenario', to 'high scenarios' of 24.8 billion. One scenario predicts a massive increase to 256 billion, assuming fertility remains at 1995 levels.[14]
There is no estimation for the exact day or month the world's population surpassed both the one and two billion marks. The days of three and four billion were not officially noted, but the International Database of the United States Census Bureau places them in July 1959 and April 1974. The United Nations did determine, and celebrate, the "Day of 5 Billion" on 11 July 1987, and the "Day of 6 Billion" on 12 October 1999. However, the International Programs division of the United States Census Bureau estimated that the world population reached six billion on 21 April 1999, several months earlier than the official United Nations day. The "Day of 7 Billion" has been targeted by the United States Census Bureau to be in March 2012,[1] while the Population Division of the United Nations suggests 31 October 2011.[15]
__________________
__________________
I'll believe corporations are persons when Texas executes one.: LBJ's Ghost
When I was in high school our physiology class performed an experiment with rats. We put two breeding rats in a closed enviorment and let them breed. We kept the enviorment the same size and did not increase the daily food throughout the year experiment. We called the experiment "Too many rats in a cage syndrom". Well you can imagine the mess it became over a very short time. Regardless, the tracking of the population of surviving rats was very interesting. If we were to graph it, it was like a sine wave that increased or decreased over a base line a tad less every time it got to an over or under apex. Eventually the population stabalized to the base line where the enviorment and food provided could sustain the population and it stayed there. Many ratrs gave their lives for us to see this result and mostly the younger ones toward the end where stabalization took place. It was a very eye opening experiment and could be applied to what might happen to human populations.
Linear Mode
