How and why has human population size and growth rate changed over time? What is the size and distribution of today's population?
Why You Should Care
There is an entire class of party games which all share a theme of degrees of separation: how many acquaintances are there between you and a celebrity or how many links does it take to get from one unrelated topic to another on the Internet. Similar to those games is the fact that all major economic, political, and ecological problems in the world today can be related back to the rapid growth of the human population. There simply aren’t enough resources—natural, economic, or land—to be shared equitably by all of us. Although population growth seems to be slowing globally, time will tell if it is slowing enough to avoid catastrophe.
Use the information from Infographic 4.1 to calculate the following time spans.
Rounding to the nearest thousand, about how many years after the Agricultural Revolution (roughly 9000 BCE) did it take for the human population to reach 1 Billion people? | GKINKSeuMW+7CYPiAVepNQ4U6sMUC1ax32Zjbg7MSkchrw5gDY2f7HzKXW4= years |
How long did it take for the human population to grow from 1 to 2 billion people? | DMbfwWV3u74= years |
From 2 to 3 billion people? | udX0h74V+w0= years |
From 3 to 4 billion people? | a+gNtjpaMI8= years |
From 4 to 5 billion people? | +e5m8Wi5evA= years |
From 5 to 6 billion people? | DDH6Tw1RFEk= years |
From 6 to 7 billion people? | DDH6Tw1RFEk= years |
How big are the populations of these countries in terms of the world's population or the population of the world's most populous countries?
A) The population of the United States is roughly ayesJxJCDbNI+t+Mh3wnbahMcjFWpGw5WXsxmg5BVPc= of the population of India.
B) The population of the United States is roughly UK0QoTOXT3ZRE8uV6/62b3G66Zr995fGwk9IGw== of the world population.
C) The population of Japan is roughly t8HDEvGP5MI8qU3XQ8pb3kfisB356iZT of the population of China.
D) Together, China and India make up roughly 2Y5GOOOl32KGr8Vv9jRjXKQumkR/Ex1LRvyKzKkfYfk= of the world's population.
Rank the following countries from lowest (5) to highest (1) population size: China, India, Japan, Pakistan, United States.
5: K/R4LfFJ7ocemOddOyDMsu4Kzgg4d/H2q/f2GNSlWt78QZy43vD62+aN4E+IyBlt
4:mB8/g1ED6mqZI9y+ywQobc4RcxOwHtkbctY+FmRsQ9W9eECq230kuUOaJ0gip3/I+8MC1g==
3: VvyI6jzzBsyW4+yBy+tJnN3t8ZUfXC6WZns44qB/E+4XhfCc73XEeVHF1kia1jCTtYN+mA==
2: hEZS23r/EqRhsA22EHPzey5ruGM2Yme+jMYTZAJrzgLE8rDkcT12OnC5aZ1sSRk2Ewsz/w==
1: 7R137ZFnh21wmjGduuoWdJZCXMg2jJXL/VuBGX098bIDjai7sSwPMjOKg/ijI9EjdXUquQ==
Using the information from the map, indicate which of the following continents has the smallest population?YmaCcloP8YMjJrKx3tpKlsNJXUe/ar8PKX5xHeb6o0s=