This description is apt to realise how the crowd is ever increasing. The number of water reservoirs on earth are the same, the sunlight is the same and the land to farm food grains will stay the same. However, the way the population is increasing is like some sort of explosion.
The tremendous improvement in medical science has increased the life span of people from developing and underdeveloped countries. This is definitely adding unimaginable load on Earth. Earth, which is a minor part of our solar system, is now home to eight billion people. Whether the human race crossing this number is a good news or a bad one depends on how we look at it. Since natural wealth does not increase, this news can be seen as the overgrowing burden on our planet.
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As per the report by the United Nations, currently there are 50.3% males and 49.7% females in the world. The number will be equal by the year 2050. On the other hand, the share of people aged 65 years and above is 10% which is predicted to rise to 12% by 2030 and 16% by 2050. During this period, the age of one person behind four people in Europe and North America will be more than 65 years. However, the number of youth in our country will increase. Therefore it is said that the upcoming years belong to India. After gaining identity as a country of youth, a lot depends on how we utilise the energy of this youth if we were to march ahead.
The population worldwide in just the last 24 years has increased by staggering 200 crore. The population of the world in 1998 was 6 billion which reached the mark of 7 billion in 2010. This number would go on to hit the milestone of 8 billion in the next 12 years. The eighth billionth child was born on November 15, 2022. During the first 1800 years the population of the world had increased by just 100 crore.
The industrial revolution increased the tools of employment and the health sector made tremendous progress too. This decreased the number of pregnant women dying during the labor. The loss of infants during birth almost stopped gradually which gave a boost to the population growth rate. Which is why the population in just 30 years rose from 200 crore to 300. Around 2000 years ago the population of the world was merely 20 crore and it took us nearly 1,800 years for that number to reach 100 crore. From 100 to 200 crore, it took the human race 130 years while the jump from 300 to 400 crore required only 14 years. If we go by this speed, the world population by 2030 may reach 850 crores. However, the UN has also made it clear that the population growth rate dropped by 1% in 2020, a first since 1050.
The predictions about the future cannot be rushed as although the population is increasing, this growth is not universal. The population is increasing only in some parts of the world. As per the UN’s report, only 8 countries will carry half the world population by the year 2050. These countries are India, Pakistan, Philippines, Egypt, Congo, Nigeria, Tanzania and Ethiopia. The UN has also predicted that the population in 61 countries will decrease during the period 2022 to 2050. Most of these countries will be European. So, although it may seem that the population is increasing, the possibility for it to decrease in the coming years cannot be denied either.
The UN has said that currently there are 46 countries where the population growth is rampant. On the occasion of World Population Day on 11 July, the UN had predicted the population estimation where they had claimed that India would be overtaking China as the most populous country in 2023. The current population of China stands at 1.426 billion while India is extremely close with 1.412 billion. India is predicted to reach 1.429 billion by next year and 1.668 by 2025. The UN has also predicted for China’s population to drop to 1.317 billion by mid-century. Hence, it will not be wrong to say that the load on Earth has increased and our country is a major contributing factor to it.
