At the end of October this year, world population reached a level of 7 billion people. Significant growth of population is a relatively recent situation. Population of the world reached 1 billion people around 1800, while the number of 2 billion was reached about 1930. In the XX century took place demographic explosion, which was is presented in the following illustration.
Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_population , 19.11.2011
Issues related to demographics are described in details in the specialist literature. Instead of the theoretical description, you can watch two very good short movies about world population prepared by National Geographic and The Economist:
10 countries with the highest number of population in the world are listed below.
| Country | Population thousands | Population Density* | Average Annual Rate of Population Change | % of world population |
| China | 1 341 335 | 140 | 0,5 | 19,5 |
| India | 1 224 614 | 373 | 1,4 | 17,8 |
| United States | 310 384 | 32 | 0,9 | 4,5 |
| Indonesia | 239 871 | 126 | 1,1 | 3,5 |
| Brazil | 194 946 | 23 | 0,9 | 2,8 |
| Pakistan | 173 593 | 218 | 1,8 | 2,5 |
| Nigeria | 158 423 | 171 | 2,5 | 2,3 |
| Bangladesh | 148 692 | 1 033 | 1,1 | 2,2 |
| Russia | 142 958 | 8 | -0,1 | 2,1 |
| Japan | 126 536 | 335 | 0,0 | 1,8 |
* - Population per square kilometer.
In the following list you can compare countries with the highest GDP and its population in 2010. NTRY
GDP Rank | Population | Average Annual Rate of Population Change | % of world population | |
United States | 1 | 310 384 | 0,9 | 4,5 |
China | 2 | 1 341 335 | 0,5 | 19,5 |
Japan | 3 | 126 536 | 0,0 | 1,8 |
Germany | 4 | 82 302 | -0,1 | 1,2 |
France | 5 | 62 787 | 0,6 | 0,9 |
United Kingdom | 6 | 62 036 | 0,6 | 0,9 |
Brazil | 7 | 194 946 | 0,9 | 2,8 |
Italy | 8 | 60 551 | 0,6 | 0,9 |
Canada | 9 | 34 017 | 1,0 | 0,5 |
India | 10 | 1 224 614 | 1,4 | 17,8 |
Russia | 11 | 142 958 | -0,1 | 2,1 |
Spain | 12 | 46 077 | 1,2 | 0,7 |
Australia | 13 | 22 268 | 1,7 | 0,3 |
Mexico | 14 | 113 423 | 1,3 | 1,65 |
South Korea | 15 | 48 184 | 0,5 | 0,7 |
Netherlands | 16 | 16 613 | 0,4 | 0,2 |
Turkey | 17 | 72 752 | 1,3 | 1,1 |
Indonesia | 18 | 239 871 | 1,1 | 3,5 |
Switzerland | 19 | 1 186 | 1,4 | 0,02 |
Poland | 20 | 38 277 | 0,1 | 0,6 |
Source: esa.un.org/unpd/wpp/Sorting-Tables/tab-sorting_population.htm , 19.11.2011
In the long term detailed predictions about world population are limited. According to the United Nations prediction number of people in the world will still increase, but the growth will become slower. Estimates, prepared by UN in the medium variant, show that world population will reach 8 billion people about 2025 and 9 billion people in 2050.
Source: UN Population Division, www.un.org/esa/population/publications/sixbillion/sixbilpart1.pdf , 19.11.2011
Presented data mostly come from Department of Economic and Social Affairs of United Nations:
- www.un.org/esa/population/unpop.htm
- esa.un.org/wpp/unpp/panel_population.htm
