Earth Officially Home To 7 Billion Humans

Its also interesting to note how much the demographics of the world has changed and will be changing over the next 40 yrs or so.<p>These are outdated links, but take note of the top 10 most populated countries in 2050. The fact that Nigeria, Ethiopia and DRC are projected to enter the top 10 list will lead to interesting consequences for Africa.<p><a href="http://www.photius.com/rankings/world2050_rank.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.photius.com/rankings/world2050_rank.html</a><p><a href="http://www.kulzick.com/pop100.htm" rel="nofollow">http://www.kulzick.com/pop100.htm</a><p>Also since independence in 1947, Pakistan's population has grown to 177 million today from around 30 million (a six-fold increase). And is estimated to end up at a whopping 270 million over the next couple of decades. Similarly, Nigeria is also witnessing a population explosion starting off with around 55 million in 1971 and right now at ~150 million.<p>Edit: The UN has a nice website where one can get much more detailed information about population projections.<p><a href="http://esa.un.org/unpd/wpp/unpp/p2k0data.asp" rel="nofollow">http://esa.un.org/unpd/wpp/unpp/p2k0data.asp</a>

Many people will say that humans are the exception, but I think it is nonetheless interesting to look at this from an ecological point of view. A common pattern of population growth for animals includes a period of exponential growth (as we are currently seeing), which ends with an "overshoot" where the population continues to grow past the "carrying capacity" of the environment. The population then decreases (possibly due to starvation or disease), and begins to cycle around the carrying capacity, creating an equilibrium. If one believes that this is a reasonable model to apply to the human population on Earth, the real question is: "What is the carrying capacity of Earth?"

The current conventional wisdom is that the birth rate is slowing in the industrialized world, and so overpopulation is no longer a serious concern. While this is the current demographic trend, I feel that such an assessment is short-sighted.<p>Natural selection (and common sense) tells us that individuals and cultures who value large families (Mormons, Catholics, etc.) will gradually out-populate those which do not. And as people who desire many children begin to make up a larger proportion of the population, it seems likely that overpopulation could resume its exponential trajectory.

I've seen people react at this figure in horror, as if there is some fixed limit to the number of humans that earth could possibly support. But earth's resource problems are really problems of distribution, not scarcity. And at least one of those 7 billion will figure out how to enable the earth to support 8 billion and more.

I'm sorry for ranting in a mildly off-topic fashion, but the visualizations linked in the /. article are just horrible. A jumble of widgets with hardly a caption, and no analysis. They even have those USPTO-style gauges. Data so important deserved much, much better.<p>And I love the disclaimer:<p><i>The information contained in this web site is for entertainment and information purposes only.</i><p>You wish, SAP.<p>Edit. And then, there's this:<p><pre><code> United States of America Total Population: 313,089,333 % of Oceania Population: 90.08% </code></pre> —sigh—

I was surprised not to see more mention in the Slashdot comments and the comments here of projections that the United Nations has already done of world population to the year 2300 under different assumptions.<p><a href="http://www.un.org/esa/population/publications/longrange2/WorldPop2300final.pdf" rel="nofollow">http://www.un.org/esa/population/publications/longrange2/Wor...</a><p>Most projections show the world population reaching a peak a few decades from now (while most HNers and Slashdotters are still alive) and then becoming gradually less over the next two centuries.

Next milestone: back to 6 billion as the developing world moves to western demographics

The best book and perspective I've read on population, the environment, the economy, technology, and how they all overlap is Limits to Growth, the 30 year update. It takes a systems approach to these related issues, not looking at just one in isolation, though recognizing you have to make assumptions.<p>I'd love to talk to people about it but I've never spoken to anyone in person who has read and understood it. I've read some commentary on the web, but most of it is filled with politics and preconceived notions (often the case of any discussion on these subjects) that detract from it.<p>Has anyone here read it? I blogged briefly about it here -- <a href="http://joshuaspodek.com/the_best_book_on_the_environment_economy_and_ecology" rel="nofollow">http://joshuaspodek.com/the_best_book_on_the_environment_eco...</a>.<p>The Amazon link -- <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Limits-Growth-Donella-H-Meadows/dp/193149858X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&#38;qid=1319568405&#38;sr=8-1" rel="nofollow">http://www.amazon.com/Limits-Growth-Donella-H-Meadows/dp/193...</a>

It blew my mind when I truly realized that a couple having two kids does not constitute a net increase in human population. What makes this amazing is wondering where all of these couples having 3-or-more kids are.

May there be many more. Through our ingenuity, we have learned how to live with less, much less. We continue to reduce the resources necessary to sustain a single human being, while repairing the damage done in prior generations. On top of everything, the increasing population is accelerating innovation. More brilliant people are coming into the world every day and their numbers are increasing, which increases the opportunities for collaboration exponentially. Amazing times!

<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/oct/23/why-population-growth-costs-the-earth-roger" rel="nofollow">http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/oct/23/why-popula...</a> &#60;- the article

7 billion people, on one planet, all clumping off into groups and pulling in different directions. I wonder how long and at what population point we seriously, as almost a whole, understand functioning as a planet and as human beings as opposed to screwing each other and raping our tiny blue dot.

The problems that could be crowd-sourced with 7 billion people...