World population hits 6.5 billion
Rapid
growth occurring where it can be least afforded, researchers say
By Leonard David
LiveScience Updated: 7:15 p.m. ET Feb. 25, 2006
A population milestone
has been set on this jam-packed planet. At 7:16 p.m. ET on Saturday,
the population here on this good Earth hit 6.5 billion people, according
to projections. Along with this forecast, an analysis by the International
Programs Center at the U.S. Census Bureau points to another factoid,
Robert Bernstein of the Bureau's Public Information Center advised
LiveScience.
Mark this on your
calendar: Some six years from now, on Oct. 18, 2012 at 4:36 p.m. ET,
the Earth will be home to 7 billion folks. These are estimates, of
course, but clear trends emerge from the data behind them.
Population
profile
A report issued
by the Bureau in March 2004 noted that world population hit the 6
billion mark in June 1999. "This figure is over 3.5 times the size
of the Earth's population at the beginning of the 20th century and
roughly double its size in 1960," the study explained. Even more striking
is that the time required for the global population to grow from 5
billion to 6 billion — just a dozen years — was shorter than the interval
between any of the previous billions. On average, 4.4 people are born
every second.
The population
on Earth today is nearly four times the number in 1900. Behind that
phenomenal global increase is a vast gulf in birth and death rates
among the world's countries. But according to population experts,
this gulf is not a simple divide that perpetuates the status quo among
the have and have-not nations.
Birth dearth
"What is worrisome
about this demographic divide is not the differences among nations'
population growth rates, but the disparities associated with these
trends ... disparities in living standards, health, and economic prospects,"
explained Mary Kent, co-author along with Carl Haub, of a Population
Reference Bureau report issued last month titled "Global Demographic
Divide." Kent, editor of the Population Bulletin, and Haub, a senior
demographer at the Population Reference Bureau, reported that news
of declining population in Europe fueled concern about a global "birth
dearth," but there is continuing population growth in developing countries.
The question,
they asked, is which demographic trend is the world facing? "The reality
is that both trends are occurring," Haub said. "The dramatic fertility
decline during the 20th century coincided with improved health, access
to family planning, economic development, and urbanization."
Kent and Haub
also reported that most countries will experience population growth
through 2050, as the world adds a projected 3 billion more people
to the total. Remarkably, despite the many new developments over the
past 50 years, one fact looks very much the same, explained Kent and
Haub: Populations are growing most rapidly where such growth can be
afforded the least — an observation that has changed little over time,
they said.
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