For most of human history, we lived as hunter-gatherers, and global population probably stayed under about 10 million people. When we discovered agriculture, numbers started to climb, but slowly and steadily. With the agricultural revolution in the 1700s and the industrial revolution in the 1800s, increased production of food and other basic necessities allowed population growth to pick up pace. By 1800 we were at 1 billion humans.
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The twentieth century saw medical advances and better food production bring down the death rate, with further population acceleration. The really dramatic change happened after World War II, when population began doubling every few decades: we entered the 20th century with 1.6 billion people and left it with 6.1 billion. But the growth rate peaked in latter decades of the 20th century, and now birth rates are dropping again.
This means we’re still going to be growing (though more slowly) for most of the 21st century, and by its last decades could be levelling off at over 10 billion.
Note: the graphic is an approximate representation of where population currently stands i.e. probably somewhat above 6.7 billion. Best estimates are a little below our counter i.e. closer to 6.70 than 6.72
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