The history of world population growth, A detailed study.

The numerical count of the world population has reached 8 billion and is growing day by day, it took only twelve years to extend the graph to another billion to reach the current count. According to recent research and many prestigious journals, the growing trend of population growth will peak in 2060 and then fall to 8.8 billion in 2100. The escalated growth of the world’s population over the last century draws up a puzzle that must be resolved most sustainably, both for the environment and for human beings. Several factors contribute to the increasing human population, an in-depth analysis of each factor and framing solutions against them will help us maintain a favourable balance in our economy.

Through the milestones of world population growth

With the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, birth rates and death rates were on the rise, which helped maintain a balance and stability in the population. It took around 50 years to reach the count of 1 billion people. The discoveries in modern medicines, health facilities and sanitation have helped immensely in reducing mortality rates among infants and children. But there was a lack of a reliable way to reduce fertility, hence the drop in mortality with the fertility packed up with much strength caused the beginning of a sudden increase in population. When people embarked on a journey with more exposure to modern facilities, technology and healthier living conditions more people started surviving to adulthood and started building their community of family.

The growth of the population which was in the beginning at a slower pace showed an accelerated elevation with time. It took 123 years to reach 2 billion, and only 33 years to reach 3 billion. The last several billion milestones 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 billion)were reached in 14, 13, 11, 12, and 12 years, respectively. The intense growth in the population is one reason that accelerates the rate of environmental problems because the growing population demands more and more resources for its application.

What are the causes of Population growth?

The growth of the world’s population over the last century places us at crossroads that we must resolve most sustainably, both for the environment and for human beings. The world population growth is marked and measured by the UN by three factors:

Fertility Rates:

Population growth is highly dependent on fertility rates, It is defined as the number of births occurring annually per thousand women belonging to a particular age group. Women of the age group 18-35 are considered for calculating the fertility rate and high fertility rates result in higher population growth. The global fertility level is expected to decline from 2.5 children per woman in 2019 to 2.2 in 2050, according to the World Populations Prospects study from the UN.

Mortality Rates/ Death Rates:

An important reason affecting the growth of the population is the mortality rate. As the birth of new individuals elevates the population size, deaths reduce it. The elements that affect the mortality rate are the accessibility of quality health care, modern medical facilities and a healthy lifestyle. Life expectancy has increased considerably in recent decades and this trend is set to continue, the forecast is to reach 77.1 years in 2050 (which is currently around 73). Despite all the progress at different levels, it should be noted that there is still a very large gap with the least developed countries.

International Migration

Migration is an important factor that determines the population growth in an area. This is considered a less influential factor than the previous two, but it is very relevant in the current scenario. Several factors have led people through the way of migrating from one country to the other, running away from war, searching for better standards of living, good education, pursuing a better career, and searching for new jobs or unions with family members. When an individual emigrates from a nation, its population declines gradually. Those countries that received large numbers of refugees or economic migrants may offer a longer life expectancy to newcomers.

Types of Population growth

Population growth is defined as an increase in the size of a population over a specific period. The growth rate is calculated using two factors – the number of people and the unit of time. Population growth models are generally described with the influence of two models comparing the varying size of the population and the necessary resources used:

 Exponential Growth

The increase in population without considering the carrying capacity of the habitat is referred to as exponential growth. When the inhabitants are given unlimited amounts of resources, such as air, food, water, land and other environmental factors, it will grow exponentially.  In exponential growth, the only factor that determines the growth rate of a specific population is the rate of birth and the only factor that limits this growth is the availability of resources.

Logistic Growth

The level of growth that considers the carrying capacity of the habitat is referred to as the logistic growth of the population. Usually, the population first grow exponentially while resources are abundant. But as populations increase and resources become limited, the rate of growth slows down reaching the carrying capacity. The carrying capacity is the extreme limit to the population size that the environment can support.

Consequences of population growth

The global increase in population has many positive impacts on the development aspect but it draws up a very crucial status for the environment and adversely affects its carrying capacity

Perpetual climatic changes

The present alterations in the climatic conditions and the unseasonal patterns are the results of human attributions which consequently increases as the number of human beings increases. Rapid population growth affects the planet’s ability to absorb emissions and thus enhances the impacts of over usage of resources thus exposing more people to adverse effects of climate change.

Instability in Food Security 

The sudden increase in population challenges the food supply system and triggers its balance, food security is balanced when all people have the access to safe and nutritious food to meet their nutritional needs. As the population growth increases, the amount of food required to adequately feed the people is increasing which will affect the efforts of reaching the standards of ensuring food security.

The exploitation of resources

Human wants are unlimited but our resources are very limited to feed the whole community, so with the rapid increase in population the resources that face the challenge of exploitation get over-exploited. The natural resources of our planet like land, water, air and other environmental resources need to be used sustainably but the unstable use is increasing day by day thus creating an imbalance in the chain of life as the resources are not enough to meet the needs of the enhancing population.

Conclusion

The increasing rates of population growth are a great concern today as the planet is showing manifestations of getting weaker with the imbalance of resources and human attributions. Hence the concern needs to be resolved sustainably through a proper study, detailed analysis and discussions.