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.

Advertisement

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 the late 1980s, 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.

Read more:
6.5 billion and counting

Rate this article Poor 1 2 3 4 5 Excellent

JOBS

Operations Manager R20,000-25,000 Per Month Cost To Company Incl Benefits Gauteng - East Rand Key Account Manager Gauteng Java Developer-CT Western Cape - Cape Town Java Developer-Jozi Gauteng Account Manager R460,000-540,000 Per Annum Cost To Company Plus Benefits Gauteng Account Manager R460,000-540,000 Per Annum Market Related Plus Benefits South Africa Case Manager R210,000-220,000 Per Annum Negotiable Gauteng - Pretoria Retail Pharmacist Namibia Find more jobs Register your CV Post a job