6 billion humans and counting

In 2011, global population reached 7 billion mark. Today – October 12, 2015 – it stands at more than 7.3 billion, according to United Nations estimates.

 

Visitors pack into an artificial wave pool at a resort in Daying county in Sichuan province, China. Image via China Daily/Reuters. View images of World Population Day 2015 from ibtimes.co.uk.

October 12, 1999. On this date, the world’s human population was estimated to hit 6 billion, according to the United Nations. It took hundreds of thousands of years for Earth’s human population to reach 1 billion in 1804. The 3 billion milestone came in 1960. Not quite 40 years later, global population had doubled to 6 billion. In 2011, global population reached 7 billion mark. Today – October 12, 2015 – it stands at more than 7.3 billion.

UNFPA, aka the United Nations Population Fund, marked this date as the Day of 6 Billion. Read a 2015 statement from UNFPA on 10 things you didn’t know about world population.

Population experts did not agree on the exact date that world population reached the six billion milestone, but they came close. For example, the U.S. Census Bureau set the date just a few months earlier, on July 22, 1999. These numbers are estimates, after all.

And, of course, human population is still growing. Driven by growth in developing countries, population is expected to reach 8.5 billion by 2030. It should reach around 9.7 billion in 2050, with India expected to become the largest country in population size, surpassing China around 2022, while Nigeria could surpass the United States by 2050.

By the year 2100, there should be 11.2 billion humans on the Earth. All of these figures are via a new United Nations report – World Population Prospects: The 2015 Revision – released in July, 2015.

Read a press statement about the UN’s latest population report

population-1900-2100

The UNFPA pointed out that the Day of 6 Billion came only 80 days before the year 2000, allowing excellent comparisons to past populations:

In only 40 years, the world population had doubled. In 100 years, it had quadrupled. In only 12 years, it had increased by one billion. Median projections for population growth estimated that by the year 2050, the tally would top 9 billion, with an increase of roughly 77 million people per year.

UNFPA statistics released in September 1999 also stated that the child had a less than 1 in 10 chance of being born into “relative prosperity,” and a 3 in 10 chance of being born into “extreme poverty.”

See real-time human population figures here.

The map displayed here shows how Population varies by country. The shade of the country corresponds to the magnitude of the indicator. The darker the shade, the higher the value. Map accurate as of January 1, 2014. Via Mundi Index World Demographics.

The map displayed here shows how Population varies by country. The shade of the country corresponds to the magnitude of the indicator. The darker the shade, the higher the value. Map accurate as of January 1, 2014. Via Mundi Index World Demographics.

Bottom line: On October 12, 1999, global human population was estimated to hit 6 billion, according to the United Nations. UNFPA, aka the United Nations Population Fund, marked this date as the Day of 6 Billion.

Comments:

 

THE HUMAN RACE WILL EVENTUALLY BREED ITSELF INTO EXTINCTION.
OUR PLANET WILL NOT SUSTAIN SUCH GROWTH.
OIL,GAS,COAL WILL RUN OUT. ENOUGH FRESH WATER WILL BE SCARCE,
AVAILABLE LAND TO GROW FOOD WILL DECREASE.NATIONS WILL FIGHT AND KILL TO SECURE THEIR SHARE OF THESE DWINDLING RESOURCES.THE ELEMENTS WILL RAVAGE OUR PLANET AND DESTROY
CITIES AND TOWNS BROUGHT ON BY CLIMATE CHANGE TRIGGERED BY US PEOPLE.
WHEN WE ARE ALL GONE OUR PLANET OVER SEVERAL MILLIONS OF YEARS WILL REPAIR THE DAMAGE WE HAVE DONE,AND REGENERATE ITSELF. UNTIL THE NEXT GREEDY,ARROGANT SPECIES ARRIVES AND DO EXACTLY THE SAME THING AGAIN. HUMANS ARE NOT WORTHY TO INHABIT THIS BEAUTIFUL WORLD

 

I'd like to share a revelation that I've had during my time here. It
came to me when I tried to classify your species and I realized that
you're not actually mammals. Every mammal on this planet instinctively
develops a natural equilibrium with the surrounding environment but you
humans do not. You move to an area and you multiply and multiply until
every natural resource is consumed and the only way you can survive is
to spread to another area. There is another organism on this planet that
follows the same pattern. Do you know what it is? A virus. Human beings
are a disease, a cancer of this planet. You're a plague and we are the
cure.

© 2014 Earthsky Communications Inc

 

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