World Population Growing by over 2,300,000,000 by 2050.

World population is now reaching epic proportions. This July, the world population reached 6,800,000,000. The United Nations World Population Prospect states that by 2050 the world population will surpass 9,000,000,000 inhabitants all of whom will have rejected positive population growth in favor of below-replacement fertility rates.

The growing population will mainly affect developing countries, where 82% of the 6,800,000,000 people reside. Food has a direct correlation to population growth and where there is a multitude of people, a copious amount of food is needed. Where there is poverty, there is a lack of food, and where there is a lack of food for a growing population, there will be famine and war. The “world population will grow by some 2,300,000,000 between now and 2050…” according to the UN. At this growth rate, which is roughly equal to the combined current population of both China and India the situation will call to be one of the most pressing environmental issues in the world since 1970.

“We need to achieve a sizable reduction in high population growth rates, especially in Asia, Africa, and Latin America “ says Paul Ehrlich, author of best seller The Population Bomb. “The battle to feed humanity is over, and hundreds of people will starve to death in spite of any crash programs undertaken upon now…” he says. Ehrlich models the gloomy political economist Thomas Malthus whose belief is that the race between population growth and human survival is never ending.

As it may, population is highly dependent on fertility rate. The UN’s recent study shows that if fertility rates fall from 2.56 children per woman, to 2.02 children per woman, the world population will fall to 9,000,000,000, however if this rate is only one half above this current figure, the world population will exceed the predicted number by over one billion inhabitants by 2050. “If we can control the fertility rate, the population would remain stable…” states Ehrlich. “This average number is what we need to focus on.”

If there is any reason to believe that the population will ever decline, the time is now. Fertility rates are already underway mostly in developed nations. These developed nations will need to accept a large number of immigrants into their countries, and developing countries will need to model these developed nations; use tangible tactics to achieve sustainability in their own communities and stabilize their fertility rates as a result.

It seems as though we are lucky as the UN predicts the fertility rate will actually decline after 2050. Even so, it might take years afterwards before the global population begins to diminish.

THE WORLD TODAY; James W. Thomson, June 2009, Accessed October 11, 2009: http://web.ebscohost.com.subzero.lib.uoguelph.ca/ehost/detail?vid=4&hid=104&sid=d150cd46-142c-4eef-84cd5d6dafb6bb17%40sessionmgr110&bdata=JkF1dGhUeXBlPWlwJmxvZ2lucGFnZT1Mb2dpbi5hc3Amc2l0ZT1laG9zdC1saXZlJnNjb3BlPXNpdGU%3d#db=aph&AN=43237199