The World’s Population Will Reach 7 Billion 31 October, 2011

In November, the Earth’s population will reach seven billion people. This forecast was made by Secretary General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon. Of course, the exact date of this momentous event cannot be predicted, but October 31 is considered the official date. The primary growth of the global population occurs due to the developing countries. This day has been determined by the UN Population Fund that is preparing a series of events dedicated to this historic event. Based on forecasts, in 2011 the Earth will have approximately 135 million new people, and 57 million will die.

Some fifty years ago there were only 3.5 billion people on the planet. The total world population has doubled over the period shorter than the current average life expectancy. The reason for the exponential growth of the population is the so-called demographic transition – the process whereby a society with high fertility and high mortality transforms into a society with low fertility and low mortality. Based on the UN, the largest number of people lives in China (1.35 billion), followed by India (1.24 billion). This really is the first time when the top ten includes only 3 developed countries: USA, Russia and Japan. As suggested by Harvard demographer David Bloom, within the next 40 years the population growth will be more than two billion people to reach nine billion.

The demographer stated in the Science journal that the majority will be brought by the African countries. However, seven billion people consume resources at a rate that does not leave the nature sufficient time to recover them. This really is one of the primary problems of overpopulation. No ocean cities and the development of underground locations frequently portrayed as a technological alternative to the Malthusian views would solve this fundamental problem.

This year, the so-called “Ecological Debt Day” occurred last week. The “Ecological Debt Day” is named by the organization Global Footprint Network (GFN) every year. This really is the moment when humanity has consumed much more resources than our planet can make up for the year. The trend shows that since 2001, each year the debt day occurs 3 days earlier than in the previous year.

As predicted by the Population Division of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs, by 2100, the number of inhabitants of Earth could exceed $10 billion. Some specialists predicted that this number could be reached by mid-century. However, many experts talk about the inevitable slowing of population growth and the beginning of a reverse process.

We are now dealing with a resonance when the possibilities of modern medicine have become accessible to traditional societies. Fertility in these societies will stay at the same level for some time. Subsequently, however, due to the distribution of contraceptives specific economic conditions in the form of the pension system, it will start to decline sharply. The census shows that the population of many countries is decreased due to low fertility. “The experience of nearly all Western European countries shows that once an immigrant from a country with a high birth rate arrives in a country like France or Russia, where fertility trends are very comparable, in the second generation the birth rate is decreased two- or threefold.

Tags: David Bloom, Earth's population, Harvard demographer, India, seven billion people, world's population
Posted in Earth Changes | 6 Comments »

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