Free Custom «Global Population Trend» Essay Paper

Since 1AD, the human population has immensely increased. The period between 1950 and 2000 recorded the highest increase of 3.55 billion people. In other words, it takes only 40 years after 1950, for the world population to double. This duration is far below the average lifetime of a human being which is about 70 years. It is estimated that the global is likely to fall between 8 and 12 billion by 2050. The most surprising part of this increase is that fifty percent of the global population are languishing in poverty, and twenty percent are extremely malnourished. The factors that affect global population include fertility, mortality, time and initial population. The current growth rate stands at 1.3% annually.  

The immense increase of the global population poses major threats to the livelihood of human because the resources are not increasing at a similar rate. As the number of births increases, the natural resources get depleted faster than they can be replaced. This created economic problems as the global living standards continue to decline steadily. Human overpopulation has also caused environmental problems such as pollution and degradation. Agricultural lands are being converted to settlements areas, hence, production is drastically reduced. Symptoms of global warming, dying forests, melting glaciers, extinction of species, rising sea levels, devastating droughts, increased diseases, and heat waves are some of the consequences of high levels of human population.

Anyone observing the global population trend in the given time period must be greatly alarmed. By 1800 AD, the world population almost knocked one billion, two centuries later, the numbers stood at 6 billion. The greatest concern is what the future holds with such an alarming population trend.  Uncertainty in global population is a warning factor of the economic levels of many countries. About three quarters of countries in the world have low economy and, hence, the poverty level is very high.