In 2018, there are now approximately 7 and a half billion people in the world.
The UN estimates that the current pace of population growth is adding 78 million more people to the planet every year, and that the population may have exceeded 10 billion by the end of the 21st century. (It reached 1 billion in 1804 and 2 billion in 1927.)
This National Geographic video clip helps make those huge numbers a little easier to grasp.
[embed]https://youtu.be/sc4HxPxNrZ0[/embed]
Teaching about population issues
Population growth can be an emotive, controversial issue, as it raises questions and concerns about "too many people for the planet to support" and "something needing be done". It might look straightforward and clear cut, but it's actually very complex, and brings lots of other global issues into play. The UN's 7 billion actions campaign aimed to raise awareness of the opportunities and challenges presented by global population growth, and focused on the following issues:- Reducing poverty and inequality - this also slows down population growth (see the Hans Rosling video mentioned below).
- Empowering women and girls - this leads to progress on all fronts (see our article Fight Poverty: Educate Girls and the Send My Friend to School campaign).
- Reproductive health and rights - if every child is wanted, and every childbirth safe, you get smaller and stronger families. (It might seem paradoxical, but improved child survival can ultimately lead to lower population growth as overall birth rates decrease.)
- Young people - more interconnected than ever before, young people are transforming global politics and culture.
- Ageing populations - this is a new global challenge resulting from lower fertility and longer lives.
- Environment - healthy planet = healthy people - we all depend on the health of our planet.
- Urbanization - the next two billion people will live in cities, so we need to plan for that now.You can find further information on the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) website.