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Photo: C.Moses / Flickr

The world’s population stood at approximately 300 million around 2,000 years ago. It reached a billion in 1800 and the second billion in 1927. 1959 saw the world population reach the three billion mark. There were five billion folk on this planet in 1987 and an extra billion came along by 1999. How many people live on this planet today? No less than seven billion! The United Nations Population Fund’s’ The State of World Population 2011 sheds light on our world’s population figures.

Counting heads – some perspective

The report states that we can expect around 9.3 to 10.6 billion people by 2050 and more than 10 billion by the year 2100. Estimates go as high as 15 billion plus by 2100, when there will be only a small rise in fertility in so-called ‘high-population countries’. To put this in perspective, picture the total populations of Germany, Vietnam or Ethiopia being added to the world’s population every year. That’s about 80 million people a year.

Largest rate of increase?

China is the most populated country in the world, with 1.35 billion people to feed. India is a close second with 1.24 billion citizens. Africa will have the biggest rate of increase – it is predicted that the continent will add a further billion people to the world’s population by 2044. Asia’s population is projected to reach 5.4 billion by 2052, after which it will slowly decline.

Fertility rates

Despite these figures, fertility rates have fallen to 2.5 children per woman from 6.0 children over the last 60 years. This positive change is due to shifting cultural values, the use of contraception and prosperity.

Highly modern economies have a fertility rate of 1.7 children per woman today while the least developed economies have a rate of 4.2 births per woman. The UN Millennium Goals states that access to reproductive health must be universal by the year 2015.

Women’s empowerment and gender equality are essential to lower birth rates. Unfortunately, approximately one-fifth of women who live with a partner or are married do not have their contraceptive needs met. This is particularly the case in sub-Saharan Africa.

Good things: life expectancy and infant mortality

The stats further indicate that the average life expectancy rose to around 68 years old in the first decade of this century. This can be compared to a frightening 48 in the early 50s. Infant mortality fell dramatically by almost two-thirds. Forty-three percent of the world’s total population now consists of people under the age of 25.

Looking into the crystal ball

Tom Chiver states in his article for The Telegraph that ‘we must not be complacent: more than a billion people worldwide are starving or undernourished, and the world’s population is growing by more than 200,000 people a day. Human ingenuity is needed now as much as ever. But the seven billionth human is not necessarily a harbinger of disaster.’