According to the United Nations the world’s population reached 8 billion people on almost a year ago on November 22nd, 2022, a milestone in human development.
The reason the human population is growing is due to the gradual increase in human lifespan owing to improvements in public health, nutrition, personal hygiene and medicine.
It is also the result of high and persistent levels of fertility in some countries. For example, in Gaza half the population is 15 or younger.
While it took the global population 12 years to grow from 7 to 8 billion, it will take approximately 15 years—until 2037— for it to reach 9 billion, a sign that the overall growth rate of the global population is slowing.
The effects of a growing human population are perhaps not what might be expected as far as the environment is concerned, because populations in highly developed countries tend to burn a lot of energy and create waste, but don’t grow much, whereas populations in poorer countries tend to grow faster, but consume much less.
However the U.S. Census Bureau said Thursday, that the 8 billion mark was not reached until September 26th of this year, although the Census Bureau admits this is just an approximation.
The reason for the discrepancy is that different methods of counting are used, and in fact some countries do not count or record births and deaths at all, so any exact total of the world’s population is a bit of a guess.
Many countries lack systems to record births and deaths and some of the most populous countries, such as India and Nigeria, haven’t conducted censuses in over a decade, according to the bureau.
Sources: United Nations, VOA, United States Census Bureau.
