World population
At present the world's population is growing quickly, though this has not always been the case.
- Until the 1800s the world's population grew slowly for thousands of years.
- In 1820 the world's population reached one billion.
- In the early 1970s, the world's population reached three billion.
- By 1999, less than 30 years later, the population had doubled to six billion.
- The global rate of population growth is now one billion every 15 years.
The graph shows this pattern of accelerating growth (including the predicted population for 2025).
Question
Describe, the changes in world population from the year 1800 to 2025.
(hint: What is the trend? Give the year with the lowest figure. Give the year with the highest figure.)
- The overall trend is that population is increasing.
- The year 1800 had just under one billion people.
- By 1999 the world had a population of six billion people.
- There was a sharp increase from 1999 to 2025.
- 2025 has the highest value of 8.5 billion.
