There will officially be 8 billion humans on Earth on November 15, 2022, the beginning of the end?
Author: Clark Tos
2022-10-21 15:18:02
The population of our planet, which numbered “only” one billion people in 1800, has multiplied by 8 in just 200 years. Details.
The figure seems dizzying but it is nevertheless real!
On November 15, the world population will cross the fateful threshold of 8 billion human beings.
The Earth However, there were only 2 billion in 1927, which means that the number of inhabitants populating our planet has quadrupled in barely a century.
If the population human took 123 years, between 1804 and 1927, to go from 1 to 2 billion individuals, it only needed… 12 years, between 1999 and 2011, to go from 6 to 7 billion.
Photo credit: Istock
There will be 8 billion people on Earth by next month
Demography thus experienced exponential growth throughout the 20 and century and, if we believe the projections, this increase is not about to stop.
According to one study of the UN, there is indeed “ 95% chance » than the global population « is between 8.9 and 12.4 billion in 2,100 ».
If the figure makes you dizzy, it is nevertheless lower - by 100 million people - than the forecasts made in 1981.
Indeed, population growth is still increasing but it is in full deceleration due to a significant decline in fertility. Thus, in 2020, the number of children per woman was 2.4 against 3.2 in 1990, according to the World Bank .
Photo credit: Istock
The number of individuals inhabiting the planet is nonetheless considerable. Should we then fear a fatal overpopulation?
According Futura-Sciences , which quotes the WorldWatch institute, the Earth has, in theory, 1.9 hectares of land to meet the food, clothing, housing and waste treatment needs for one inhabitant. However, the world average would today be around 2.3 hectares and up to… 9.7 for an average American.
Suffice to say that at this rate, the human being runs to his loss if he does not change his habits.
Theoretically, the Earth could support more than 10 billion individuals but on the condition that each one has an identical mode of consumption.
A utopia…