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History Summaries
Human Population

World Population
Growth History
by Vaughn Aubuchon

Here is a summary of World Population Growth history from 10,000 B.C. to the present (2012), and projected world population growth from the present (2012) to 2050 A.D.

World Population Growth -
Historical Chart

Projected World Population Estimates

Time to Reach Each Billion

300

140



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World Population Growth
History Chart

.
The total number of humans that have ever
lived has been estimated at 110 billion.
Approximately 6% of all those people
are alive today (~7 billion). Wow.
.

Date
Africa
Asia
Europe
North
America
South
America
Oceania
Total
(mil-
lions)
New
Data
from
2011
Nation.
Geogr.
TV
Prog.
plus
Mada-
gascar
plus
USSR /
Mideast

Canada
US
Mexico
Carrib.
plus
Central
America
plus
Aus-
tralia
New Zealand
Philip-
pines
10,000
BC

 

 

 

 

 

 

1
5,000 year
incre-
ments
5,000
BC

 

 

 

 

 

 

5
2,000
BC

 

 

 

 

 

 

27
1,000 year
incre-
ments
1,000
BC

 

 

 

 

 

 

50
0 A.D.

 

 

 

 

 

 

200
500 year
incre-
ments
500

 

 

 

 

 

 

300
1000

 

 

 

 

 

 

400
1500

 

 

 

 

 

 

500
1650

 

327
103
0.5
12
2
600
500
1750

 

475
144
3
11
2
750
 50 year
incre-
ments
1800

 

597
192
5.3
19
2
900
1810

 

 

 

7.2

 

 

1,000
10 years
1820

 

 

 

9.6

 

 

 

1830

 

 

 

13

 

 

 

1 B
1840

 

 

 

17

 

 

 

10 year
incre-
ments
1850

 

741
274
23
33
2
1,171
1860

 

 

 

31

 

 

 

1870

 

 

 

39

 

 

 

1880

 

 

 

50

 

 

 

1890

 

 

 

63

 

 

 

1900

 

915
423
76
63
6
1,608
1910

 

 

 

92

 

 

 

1920

 

997
485
105.7
92

1,834
1930

 

1,069
530
122.7
110

2,008
2 B
1940

 

1,173
579
131.7
132

2,216
10 year
incre-
ments
1950

 

1,272
594
150.7
162
12
2,406
1960

 

1,665
641
178.5
208

2,972
1970

 

 

 

 

 

 

3,700
1980
 470
 2,601
 484*
372
 242
 23
4,400
1990

 

 

 

 

 

5,100
1997
750
3,477
508*
464
329
29
5,852
7 years
2000
803
3,686
729
487
348
30
6,080
3 years
2005
891
3,913
729
512
371
32
6,450
5 years

.2005
Pop. Distrib.

13.8%
60.7%
11.3%
7.9%
5.7%
0.5%
99.0%

*Missing data for Russsia explains the
5% or so difference in the total.
.

-

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Projected Population Estimates

.
Africa
Asia
*
Europe
N.A.
S.A.
O.
+Aus.
Total
Nat.
Geo.
2005
891
3,913
729
512
371
32
6.45
5 year
incre-
ments
2010

 

 

 

 

 

 

 6.8

2011

7.00

7 B

2012

7.05

1 year
incre-
ments

2013

7.10

2014

7.15

2015

 

 

 

 

 

 

 7.2

2016

7.4

2020

 

 

 

 

 

 

 7.6

5 year
incre-
ments

2025
1,327
4,753
711
618
447
39
7.89
2030

 

 

 

 

 

 

 8.2
2035

 

 

 

 

 

 

 8.5
2040

 

 

 

 

 

 

8.8
2045

 

 

 

 

 

 

 9.4
9 B
2050
2,050
6,109
458*
720
475
43
9.85
10.5 B

.
Est.
2050 Pop.
Distri-
bution

20.8%
62.0%
4.6%
7.3%
4.8%
0.4%
99%

-

* The data for Europe includes all of Russsia,
except for 2050.
.

60 - 460

50

50

50

50

50

50

50

50



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Time to Get to Each Billion

Billions
of
People
On
Earth
Year
Time Span

-

1 B
1830
50,000 years
2 B
1930
100 years
3 B
1960
30 years
4 B
1975
15 years
5 B
1989
14 years
6 B
1999
10 years
7 B
2011
12 years

The recent rate of increase
has slowed due to
diminishing birth rates.

8 B
2025
14 years
9 B
2045
20 years

.
What could intervene?

1. Starvation - Can we feed 8 billion people?
--- Many say no. Drought-induced famine

2. Disease Epidemic -
--- SARS, a new bird flu, Ebola?

3. Nuclear winter -
--- Super volcano, nuclear war, comet, asteroid?

4. Birth rate change
--- Happening now

5. The Earth's poles flip
--- Calamity, happened many times before

6. The Apocalypse (religion induced)
--- People lose their minds on massive scale

Check out "The Population Bomb"
written by Paul Ehrlich in 1968.

50

60

100

220 - 450

Disclaimer: Source: US Department of Commerce, plus other research.
There are many estimates of population for various time periods.
The reporting categories change over time, introducing discrepancies that must be resolved.
I have selected the numbers which are the most consistent among experts in the demographics field.

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This Vaughns World Population Growth History
Table was last updated on 2016-10-04.