World population to hit 7 billion in 2012, latest projection suggests
Pastor Dale Morgan
Friday, June 20, 2008
*World population to hit 7 billion in 2012, latest projection suggests*
Stephen Ohlemacher, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON - The world's population will reach seven billion in 2012,
even as the global community struggles to satisfy its appetite for
natural resources, according to a new U.S. government projection.
There are 6.7 billion people in the world today. The United States ranks
third, with 304 million, behind China and India, according to
projections just released by the Census Bureau.
Canada ranks 37th with just over 33 million.
The world's population surpassed six billion in 1999, meaning it will
take only 13 years to add a billion people.
By comparison, the number of people didn't reach one billion until 1800,
says Carl Haub, a demographer at the Population Reference Bureau.
It didn't reach two billion until 130 years later.
"You can easily see the effect of rapid population growth in developing
countries," Haub said.
Haub said that medical and nutritional advances in developing countries
led to a population explosion following the Second World War. Cultural
changes are slowly catching up, with more women in developing countries
going to school and joining the work force.
That is slowing the growth rate, though it is still high in many countries.
The global population is growing by about 1.2 per cent per year. The
Census Bureau projects the growth rate will decline to 0.5 per cent by 2050.
By then, India will have surpassed China as the most populous country.
The Census Bureau updates projections each year on a variety of global
demographic trends, including fertility and mortality rates and life
expectancy. U.S. life expectancy has surpassed 78 years for the first
time, the National Center for Health Statistics announced last week.
The new Census report comes amid record high oil and gasoline prices,
fuelled in part by growing demand from expanding economies in China and
India.
There is no consensus on how many people the Earth can sustain, said
William Frey, a demographer at the Brookings Institution, a Washington
think tank. He said it depends on how well people manage the Earth's
resources.
Today, industrialized countries use a disproportionate share of oil and
other resources, while developing countries are fuelling population growth.
There are countries in Africa, Asia and the Middle East where the
average woman has more than six children in her lifetime. In Mali and
Niger, two African countries, women average more than seven children.
"There's still a long way to go in the developing world," Frey said. "A
lot of it does have to do with the education of women and the movement
of women into the labour force."
In the United States, women have an average of about two children, which
essentially replaces the population. Much of the U.S. population growth
comes from immigration.
In Canada, women have an average of 1.6 children, and the life
expectancy is 81.
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