Current Statistics

Worldwide Population - The most striking representation of the current population explosion is probably this graph of worldwide population of the last several millenia.

source: Life - The Science of Biology by Purves et al.

Increase Rates by Country - This table shows some 1994 population growth statistics from several representative countries.

Country Population
(millions)		 Land Area
(sq. miles)		 Births
per 1000		 Deaths
per 1000		 Natural
Increase		 Life Expec.
(male/female)
Bulgaria 8.4 42,680 11 13 -0.2% 68/75
China 1,200 3,600,000 18 6 1.1% 67/70
Cuba 11.2 42,400 14 7 0.7% 72/78
Denmark 5.2 16,360 13 12 0.1% 73/78
Georgia 5.4 26,900 12 10 0.2% 69/76
Germany 81.7 134,950 10 11 -0.1% 73/79
Kenya 28.3 219,960 45 12 3.3% 54/57
Mexico 93.7 736,950 27 5 2.2% 70/76
Morocco 28.6 172,320 30 7 2.3% 65/69
Paupa New Guinea 4.0 178,704 35 12 2.3% 54/56
Philippines 68.7 116,000 30 7 2.4% 63/66
South Korea 45.0 300,946 15 6 1.0% 68/76
Taiwan 21.0 13,900 16 5 1.0% 74/77
Turkey 61.4 297,150 23 7 1.6% 64/70
United Kingdom 58.6 94,251 13 11 0.2% 74/79
source: "Population Today", 1994-1996

Population Doubling by Region - One statistic used to measure the growth rate of a region is the number of years it has taken for the population there to double. Here's some statistics for the period ending in 1994.

  • Africa: doubled in 24 years. At current growth rates, will double again in another 24 years.
  • Latin America: doubled in 30 years. Projected to doubled again in 38 years.
  • Asia: doubled in 33 years. Projected to double again in 34 years.

    • source: "Population Today", February 1995

    50% of All Human Beings Alive Today? - One bit of conventional population wisdom is that of all the people who have ever lived, more than half are alive today. In other words, there are currently more living bodies than corpses. While this is an impressive piece of information, as best we can tell, it just isn't true. A rough estimate yields 105 billion births since humanity began, of which about 5.7 billion are alive today, or about 5.4% - still an impressive figure.

    source: "Population Today", February 1995

    World Population Growing More Slowly - In 1994, the United Nations population division estimated the world population to be growing at 1.57%. The growth rate has actually dropped from its high of 1.73% in the 1970s and 1980s. While world population is still expanding, it isn't doing so quite as quickly as it once was.

    source: Concise Report on the World Population Situation in 1994, UN Population Division; reported in "Population Today", November 1995.

    Current Population Projections - The median estimate for the world population in 2050 is 9.8 billion, with a low end of 7.9 bilion and a high of 11.9 billion.

    source: "Population Today", November 1994

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    Last Modified 4/18/96 by the authors.
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    (Many cultures believe that producing children is the most important human function. Because of this it is hard for the United States in its foreign aid policies to help curb third world population growth.)