And so it came to pass, that we became SEVEN BILLION strong!

[Cheetah]

World Population Clock: 7 Billion People
(You should really check the link.)

In about half a day, we will be seven billion human beings on this planet.

Seven billion.

We were six billion in 1999. We were five billion in 1987.

The world's human population has exploded:

But the rate of growth has at least started to decline:

Population in the world is currently growing at a rate of around 1.10% per year. The average population change is currently estimated at around 75 million per year.

Annual growth rate reached its peak in the late 1960s, when it was at 2% and above. The rate of increase has therefore almost halved since its peak of 2.19 percent, which was reached in 1963, to the current 1.15%.

The annual growth rate is currently declining and is projected to continue to decline in the coming years, but the pace of the future change is uncertain. Currently, it is estimated that it will become less than 1% by 2020 and less than 0.5% by 2050.

This means that world population will continue to grow in the 21st century, but at a slower rate compared to the recent past. World population has doubled (100% increase) in 40 years from 1959 (3 billion) to 1999 (6 billion). It is now estimated that it will take a further 42 years to increase by another 50%, to become 9 billion by 2042.

United Nations projections (Pdf document) indicate that world population will nearly stabilize at just above 10 billion persons after 2200.

Still, as of the 31st of October 2011, there are seven billion humans on this planet.

Comments?

 

[Synobun]

With a better functioning industry and society, no problem!

With this industry and society? Meh, we'll have some problems within a few years.

 

[squall78]

we need more supply depots

but in all seriousness what's the max amount of people we can have on the earth? this exponential growth is gotta be contained somehow....

 

[Quackers]

need MOAR

 

[puglover]

Imagine the kind of world we'll live in when the Earth is "full"....

 

[Synobun]

but in all seriousness what's the max amount of people we can have on the earth? this exponential growth is gotta be contained somehow....

It depends on your industry and society. Right now our max is probably 8-9 billion. If infrastructure is all converted to high rises and industry became incredibly optimized and effective (and perhaps some sort of mining operation or something in spaaaaaaaaace), probably more around 11-12 billion.

 

[Renner]

Spawn more overlords.






At least global warming should open up plenty of land in Canada right?

 

[Colonel]

Hmm seems to me a nuking of somewhere is in order.... China perhaps ? just kidding but really this will only further our current global problems aka famine.

 

[Cheetah]

Imagine the kind of world we'll live in when the Earth is "full"....

Depends on what you mean by full...

As a paragraph from Stephen Hawking's The Universe in a Nutshell states it:

Other measures of technological development in recent times are electricity consumption and the number of scientific articles. They too show exponential growth, with doubling times of less than forty years. There is no sign of that scientific and technological development will slow down and stop in the near future - certainly not by the time of Star Trek, which is supposed to be not that far in the future. But if the population growth and the increase in the consumption of electricity continue at their current rates, by 2600 the world's population will be standing shoulder to shoulder, and electricity use will make the Earth glow red-hot.

Of course, that will never happen. But how will it go about not-happening?

 

[Tee Kay]

In before Malthus/Diamond.

 

[Joecoolyo]

And here's to 7 billion more!

 

[warpus]

we need more supply depots

but in all seriousness what's the max amount of people we can have on the earth? this exponential growth is gotta be contained somehow....

The more people we have, the less resources there will be per person. So it's not really a matter of how many we can have, but rather how many will live in poverty with minimal resources to support them while a lucky few (us in the west) live in luxury.

 

[bhsup]

There are resources in space.

 

[Alassius]

we need more supply depots

but in all seriousness what's the max amount of people we can have on the earth? this exponential growth is gotta be contained somehow....

It's already contained. We don't have an exponential growth. 5-6 and 6-7 billion were two fastest billions (12 years each). The next one will be slower, 15 years, and the one after 18 years. Eventually the population stops growing. Another UN report from 2004 gave a middle estimate of ~9 billion, from the second half of this century.

 

[W|M]

And here's to 7 billion more!

 

[Dumanios]

So. It took millions of years to reach 1 mil, and then 2 centuries for the next 6. If only this could be contained.

 

[El_Machinae]

There are resources in space.

Savage anticipates that 95% of these people will live in the Asteroid Belt, which he calculates could sustain 7,500 trillion people excluding all the resources of the other planets.

http://members.optusnet.com.au/exponentialist/Savage.htm

http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/arxiv/27112/

Chinese scientists have discovered a near Earth asteroid that, with a slight push, could enter Earth orbit

 

[squall78]

There are resources in space.

are you volunteering your services to be a SCV

 

[ZeletDude]

This is quite interesting...
also I found another interesting World Clock.

 

[Cheezy the Wiz]

Imagine the kind of world we'll live in when the Earth is "full"....

Duuude, Puglover is back!