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... write down the figure shown on this website now and in one hour.

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The World Population is growing by over 200,000 people a day

The population of the world today is about 215,000 people larger than yesterday. The world population clock shows you in real time how fast it's actually going. The development will put enormous pressure on Earth's resources and we'll need to find more sustainable ways of living. And fast!

Accelerating population growth

Around 1804, the world population reached 1 billion people. In 1927, the 2 billion mark was made. And then, the world population really took off. In the following 84 years, the world population grew by 5 billion people reaching 7 billion in 2011. And the growth continues. By 2023, world population reaches 8 billion people. Around 2037 it could hit 9 billion and by 2056 a massive 10 billion people.

An expanding world economy

For all of recorded history, a growing population has been accompanied by economic growth - and usually per capita growth as well. When the world population doubled in the 46 years between 1971 and 2017, the world economy more than quadrupled from $19.9 to $80.1 trillion (in constant prices). In about the same period from 1970 and 2010, human consumption of Earth's natural resources tripled.

The future: A much bigger world economy

In 2000, the UN estimated that the global economy will grow between 10 and a massive 26 times during the 21st century. According to a report from PwC from 2017, the world economy is expected to double between 2016 and 2050 reaching over $150 trillion. Whatever the exact level of economic growth will be, such a massive economic growth will put enormous pressure on Earth's resources. And we are already overusing at 175 percent...

Ecological Footprint of the human population

The human population is dependent on the Earth's ecosystems to survive. But the relationship between man and nature has been thrown out of balance - quite a lot actually. Humanity now exceeds ecosystems' capacity to support our way of life by 75 percent. Such a situation cannot go on. The world population is basically "taking a loan in nature" - a loan that future generations will have to repay.

Of course, It is not simply the number of people that determines the impact of the planet. It is how much we consume and how much waste we produce.

Something must change

If we don't start radically changing the way we consume the planet, we will be heading for a complete collapse of our consumer society. At current trends, the planet cannot sustain 10 billion people and a world economy many times larger than today.

A new industrial revolution

There is a need for a new industrial revolution where economic wealth goes hand-in-hand with environmental and social sustainability. And fast. We are reaching critical tipping points beyond which it will be too late to reverse negative trends. Not just for the human population but for the sake of all life on Earth.

The EARTH population

OK, so the world population of humans is approaching 10 billion. But humans are just one species... Estimates of the total number of species on Earth range from 8.7 million to a trillion. And that's just the number of species. A single species can have a population of trillions of individuals. For instance, there are about 5 million trillion trillion bacteria on Earth. Of course, bacteria are pretty small. If calculated by weight, the human population makes up about one ten-thousandth of life on Earth.

1 in 10,000

Humans: One percent of one percent of life on Earth

Despite the explosive growth of the world population, especially in the last 300 years, the human population makes up only a tiny fraction of life on Earth. If you weigh all life on Earth, the human population only makes up about one ten-thousandth of it measured by the dry weight of the carbon that all life on Earth is build of, also known as biomass.

Selection of Life on Earth in percent by weight.

With almost 82 percent, plants make up the large majority of life on our planet. But even if we take out plants, humans still make up only 6 percent of 1 percent of life on Earth (or 1 in 1666).

Selection of Life on Earth in percent by weight - excluding plants.

Even if we take only animals and disregard all other forms of life (plants, bacteria, fungi etc.) humans still only make up about 2-3 percent.

Selection of Life on Earth in percent by weight - only animals.

Marine arthropods (lobsters, crabs, shrimp etc.) 38 %

Fish 27 %

Terrestrial arthropods (spiders, scorpions etc.) 7.7 %

Molluscs (snails, squids etc.) 7.7 %

Annelids (ringed worms) 7,7 %

Nematodes (roundworms) 7.7 %

Cnidarians (jellyfish) 3.8 %

Livestock (cattle, pigs, sheep etc.) 3.8 %

Wild mammals 2.7 %

Humans 2.3 %

Wild birds 0.08 %

Here's the full account of life on planet Earth.

Weight of the Life on Earth (biomass weight estimates)

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The population of the world today is about 215,000 people larger than yesterday. The world population clock shows you in real time how fast it's actually going. The development will put enormous pressure on Earth's resources and we'll need to find more sustainable ways of living. And fast!

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Choose a Country with an ageing population, or one that has a rapidly growing population. 

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Choose a Country with an ageing population, or one that has a rapidly growing population. 

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a) Point out strategies this country employs to cope with this population problems. Use the Internet.
b) Discuss those strategies (in class).

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-- > HDI = Human Development Index
A country´s social, economic, political and ecological situation
(three social Indikators: life expectancy, literacy rate, school enrolment rate)

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Our population is expected to grow to over 9 billion by 2050, yet the ability of our environment to provide space, food, and energy are limited. Explore population growth from 1 CE to 2050, see how our numbers impact the environment, and learn about the key advances and events allowing our numbers to grow.

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World Population Clock Live
https://www.theworldcounts.com/challenges/planet-earth/state-of-the-planet/world-population-clock-live

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The impact of rapid population growth / The impact of an ageing population

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The impact of rapid population growth / The impact of an ageing population

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How do we feed 9 billion people by 2050?

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How do we feed 9 billion people by 2050?