Our population is growing
There are now more than 7,500,000,000 people on planet Earth. (UN)
It took until the early 1800s for the world population to reach one billion. Now we add a billion every 12-15 years. (UN)
The UN estimates a population of nearly 9.8bn by 2050 – 30% higher than it is today. It also projects a possible population of 11bn by then, at which rate our numbers could reach 16bn by 2100. (UN)
(For more information about global population, visit the Our numbers page.)
10,000 years ago, humans made up 1% of the weight of vertebrate land animals: the rest were all wild. Today, wild animals make up just 1%. The other 99% is humans, our farmed animals and our pets. (Vaclav Smil)
The Earth cannot provide for us all
We are currently using up the renewable resources of 1.7 Earths— unless things change, we’ll need three by 2050Global Footprint Network
We will need 70% more food by 2050Food and Agriculture Organization
More than 4bn people will live in regions short of water by 2050waterfootprint.org
Due to population growth, availability of land per person in developing countries is expected to halve by 2050Food and Agriculture Organization
Globally, we’ll use 71% more resources each by 2050International Research Panel
The global demand for energy will increase by 30% by 2040International Energy Agency
A global ‘middle class’ of 3.2 billion people consuming at a high level in 2016 is expected to rise to roughly 5 billion by 2030Brookings Institution
The natural world is paying the price
Populations of wild animals have halved since 1970, whereas the human population has doubledWWF
The extinction rate of animals and plants is 100 times higher than it would be without the effects of human activityWWF
Climate change is happening 170 times faster than it would do without human activityGaffney & Steffen 2017
Based on today’s average global emission rates, population growth until 2050 will produce the same additional CO2 emissions as four additional USAsWorld Bank (calculation by Population Matters)
Solutions
A little less makes a lot of difference
The UN’s projections are estimates based on assumptions. It also calculatesthat if, on average, there is just half-a-child less per family in the future than it has assumed, there will be one billion fewer of us by 2050 than it expects – and four billion fewer by the end of the century (within the lifetimes of many children born today). Billions less mouths to feed, land to use and greenhouse gases to be produced.
We can bring birth rates down
Countries have had dramatic success in reducing their birth rates. Thailand, for instance, reduced its fertility rate by more than a third in just two generations with a targeted, creative and ethical family planning programme.
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