World Population

The capacity of our environment to provide space and supply energy (incl. food) is limited. Here are the impact of population growth and milestones in human history since 1 CE*.

World Population – by Population Education

* = Common (or Current) Era (CE) is one of the notation systems for the world’s most widely used calendar era. The era preceding CE is known as Before the Common (or Current) Era (BCE), whereas the Dionysian era distinguishes eras using AD (“Anno Domini” or “[the] Year of [the] Lord”) and BC (“Before Christ”).

Population Counter

The World Population Counter does not actually tick up every time someone is born. However, by using past census data the rate of population increase can be determined rather accurately. The counter then shows the predicted increase over the course of one year but instead of updating the number just once each year, it divides the estimated number of people who will be born in that year by the number of seconds in a year, giving the appearance of a counter that is ticking upwards continuously.

According to global statistics, the world population on earth increases by 2.5 people every second and so implies 150 people per minute. However, this number is both commonly misunderstood and misinterpreted as it does not mean 2.5 new born people in every second. Rather, 4.3 people are born on average in every second while 1.8 people die in the same time. This implies an increase of 2.5 people per second (4.3 born people minus 1.8 dead people equals 2.5). Extrapolated, these figures imply a number of 137 million people born every year on a global level whilst 58 million people die in the same period of time.

What’s your place in the world population? How long will you live? The Journey of your life in numbers and dates! Please enter your date of birth, country of birth and sex at birth: population.io by World Data Lab.

Overpopulation

In 2013, Sir David Attenborough said if humans did not control population, the natural world would and in 2018, he stated in an interview with the BBC’s Newsnight, that slowing population growth is key to saving the planet from Overpopulation. By 2025, World Population History shows, there will probably be over 8 billion people. Shortly before 2040, it could hit 9 billion and by 2100, it could reach a massive 11 billion people.

But Don’t Panic

The Human Explosion Explained. In a very short amount of time the human population exploded and is still growing very fast. Will this lead to the end of our civilization?

Overpopulation – The Human Explosion Explained

There’s A Limit

Prof. Hans Rosling uses statistics to give an overview of population growth and an explanation of why the total human population won’t exceed 11 billion.

Why the world population won’t exceed 11 billion – by Hans Rosling

World Population Growth
Explore the ongoing history of human civilization at the broadest level, through research and data visualization.
A web publication by Dr. Max Roser.

(Im-)Balance

Sustainability

The Earth

Climate Change

Prof. Hans Joachim Schellnhuber explains the causes (the role of human activity) and consequences of climate change and what can be done to combat it:

The Causes and Consequences of Climate Change – by EUClimateAction

He is a German atmospheric physicist, climatologist and founding director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and former chair of the German Advisory Council on Global Change.

The evidence is overwhelming. Record-breaking temperatures, humidity, and sea level rise, along with many other indicators, show that the Earth is warming fast, and that all the heat-trapping emissions we release into the atmosphere from burning fossil fuels is changing our climate. → 10 myths about climate change

The role of human activity: In its 5th assessment report, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a group of 1,300 independent scientific experts from countries all over the world under the auspices of the United Nations (UN), concluded there’s a more than 95 percent probability that human activities over the past 50 years have warmed our planet. → Global climate change: Vital signs of our planet

Scientists worldwide agree that global warming is happening, and that human activity to a great extend causes it. Yet, the majority of climate activists, public speakers for the cause and scientists working in this field further on and happily produce children of their own. Is once again the other one supposed to do something about chlimate change and environment protection but not themselves? Let’s continue talking about it…