Shanghai 1990 - 2010

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Population Seven Billion

Motorists crowd at a junction during rush hour in Taipei, on October 29, 2009. There are more than 8.8 million motorcycles and 4.8 million cars on Taiwan's roads and nearly all motor vehicles and inhabitants are squeezed into a third of the island's area. (Reuters/Nicky Loh)(Source)

The United Nations Population Fund estimates that on October 31, 2011, the world's population will reach 7 billion. Just 200 years ago, there were only 1 billion people on the planet, and over the next 150 years, that number grew to 3 billion. But in the past 50 years, the global population has more than doubled, and the UN projects that it could possibly grow to 15 billion by the year 2100. As the international organization points out, this increasing rate of change brings with it enormous challenges. Meeting the basic needs of so many will mean growing, shipping, and distributing more food while providing more clean water, health care, and shelter -- all without inflicting too much further damage on our environment. (Source)


People gather to get water from a huge well in the village of Natwarghad in the western Indian state of Gujarat on June 1, 2003. (Reuters/Amit Dave)Source

Much of [this] growth has happened in Asia — in India and China. Those two countries have been among the world's most populous for centuries. But a demographic shift is taking place as the countries have modernized and lowered their fertility rates. Now, the biggest growth is taking place in sub-Saharan Africa.

Due in part to that region's extreme poverty, infant mortality rates are high and access to family planning is low. The result is high birth rates and a booming population of 900 million — a number that could triple by the end of the century. Population expert Joel Cohen points out that, in 1950, there were nearly three times as many Europeans as sub-Saharan Africans. If U.N. estimates are correct, there will be nearly five sub-Saharan Africans for every European by 2100. (Source)

Here is a super video explanation:

Source

Click here to see 42 images from The Atlantic Dot Com's article "Population Seven Billion"

Even more here at Boston Dot Com's The Big Picture..

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Family Income Growth Comparison

CTE!

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10-Year American Obesity Growth

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U.S. Population 1950-2010

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World Population

Here's a really interesting stat I ran across today, but one which I would like to expand upon. It deals with the population of the world, its estimates from wayyy in the past, and the estimates 30-40 years into the future.. along with some fairly accurate numbers in between:

The world's population has doubled between:

1181 & 1715 (534 years)... approx. 375 to 750 million

1715 & 1881 (166 years)... approx. 750 to 1500 million (or 1.5 billion)

1881 & 1960 (79 years)... approx. 1.5 to 3 billion

1960 & 1999 (39 years)... approx. 3 to 6 billion

At this rate it will be at 9 billion by about 2038, and will double from 6 billion to 12 billion (gulp, that's 1,200,000,000, or 1.2 trillion) by about 2079 or 2080.


Here are some more graphics to help illustrate what I've just said:






























Source 1 & Source 2


Click to enlarge!

Federal Prisons Since 1950

Click to enlarge
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