The population of humans began around 100 000 years ago. By the birth of Christ the number of humans had grown to 250 million, with this growth expanding all of the time. We are now in the 21st century, and population numbers have reached over the 6.2 billion mark, growing by 78 million more each year. How has the world gone from 2 humans to billions of them? By a range of environmental and lifestyle factors. .
In ancient times people lived in small isolated communities. Birthrate was high, yet so was the death rate, resulting in the growth of people being slow and uneven. Humans were dying from wars, plagues and famines. However, as agriculture and food supplies developed, the birthrate started to surpass the amount of deaths. Come the Middle Ages and knowledge had vastly increased in farming, hygiene and medicines, resulting in people living longer; and rapid world population increase. By the late 1700's, population growth was exponential. This was due to falling death rates caused by improvements in medicines, farming machinery and better agricultural methods.
Yet now the world is facing overpopulation due to birth rates taking over the death rate. Countries have now had to introduce policies such as the One Child law, to ensure their own survival. However, places like Germany are experiencing birthrates so low that their populations are dangerously falling, so they are encouraging more children.
Birthrates and death rates are two of the most important factors in the change of the human population.
So where are these rampant increases of humans coming from? Developing countries.
97% of the world's growth occurs in the poorest nations, such as India, China and Africa.
Here, the people are torn by civil strife, non-education, and poverty, resulting in no birth control and lots of children to be cared for. It is in these countries couples see more children as a blessing, as this means they have workers for their farms and people to care for them in older years.
