You may be feeling a little claustrophobic today or in the run-up to November 15, as the global population officially triples from 1950.
The United Nations has estimated that the world's population will reach around 15 November this year 8 billion and that India will replace China as the next year the most populous country in the world.
For those of you who don't feel comfortable in a crowd, read no further as the population will grow to 8.5 billion by 2030, 9.7 billion by 2050 and 10.4 billion by 2080.
More than half of the projected increase population will be felt in eight countries: the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines and the United Republic of Tanzania.
This is due to the fact that the average global life expectancy has increased by nine years since 1990 and now stands at 72.8 years. By 2050, it should rise to 77.2 years.
But no matter how large these numbers seem, the rate of growth of the world's population decreased from about 2 % per year 50 years ago to less than 1.0 % per year.
Are there too many people on Earth, especially in light of climate change?
Experts say yes overpopulation is not the problem, overconsumption is. The bigger problem is how richer countries are destroying forests and land and polluting the environment.
When did world population reach other milestones?
The first milestone in the world that counted one billion people was in 1804. Then it took 123 years to reach 2 billion and only 33 years to reach 3 billion. The last few billion milestones (4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 billion) were reached in 14, 13, 11, 12 and 12 years, respectively. The United Nations predicts it will take 15 years to reach the 9 billion mark and another 21 years to reach 10 billion.
- 1 billion world population in 1804
- 2 billion world population in 1927 (123 years later)
- 3 billion world population in 1960 (33 years later)
- 4 billion world population in 1974 (14 years later)
- 5 billion world population in 1987 (13 years later)
- 6 billion world population in 1999 (12 years later)
- 7 billion world population in 2011 (12 years later)
Somewhere around 500 to 600 AD. no. people have reached the 200 million mark. By about 1250, the population had doubled to 400 to 416 million. Plagues and wars took a toll on the world's human population before the 15th century, but numbers began to rise steadily thereafter.
The 2 billionth child was probably born in the late 1920s, somewhere in 1927.
The 3 billionth child was a Cold War baby born ca in 1960.
In 1974 just 15 years after humanity reached the 3 billion mark, the time has come for a 4 billion population.
In 1987 is 5 billion inhabitants, got its own day, 11.7 became world population day.
In 1999 it was time for the 6 billionth inhabitant of our world.
In less than 75 years, the world's population has tripled. The global death rate in 1999 was half of what it was in 1950, the UN said, while average global life expectancy rose by 20 years, from 46 to 66, over the same period.
In 2011 the Plan International group symbolically marked the birth of the 7 billionth person with a ceremony in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh
Countries with the largest population
Let's take a look at the 20 largest countries by population, the numbers change every second and you can look at them HERE.
1. China 1,452,490,691
2. India 1,412,625,042
3. USA 335,623,625
4. Indonesia 280,490,529
5. Pakistan 231,455,946
6. Brazil 216,167,728
7. Nigeria 218,896,896
8. Bangladesh 168,635,544
9. Russia 146,081,454
10. Mexico 132,195,143
11. Japan 125,574,702
12. Ethiopia 122,073,730
13. Philippines 113,118,318
14. Egypt 107,081,347
15. Vietnam 99,439,927
16. DR Congo 96,460,331
17. Turkey 86,526,093
18. Iran 86,596,950
19. Germany 84,417,554
20. Thailand 70,213,516
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149. Slovenia 2,078,938
When will the world population exceed 8 billion?
Do you want to witness the world's population surpassing the milestone of eight billion? You can follow the numbers live on the website worldometers.info.
