World Population - Fluctuation

Fluctuation

Population size fluctuates at differing rates in differing regions. Nonetheless, population growth is the long-standing trend on all inhabited continents, as well as in most individual states. According to the United Nations, population growth on Earth's inhabited continents between 2000 to 2005 totalled:

• 227,771,000 in Asia;
• 92,293,000 in Africa;
• 38,052,000 in Latin America;
• 16,241,000 in Northern America;
• 3,264,000 in Europe;
• 1,955,000 in Oceania;
• 383,047,000 overall.

During the 20th century, the global population saw its greatest increase in known history, rising from about 1.6 billion in 1900 to over 6 billion in 2000. This increase was due to a number of factors, including the lessening of the mortality rate in many countries by improved sanitation and medical advances, and a massive increase in agricultural productivity attributed to the Green Revolution.

In 2000, the United Nations estimated that the world's population was growing at an annual rate of 1.14% (equivalent to around 75 million people), down from a peak of 88 million per year in 1989. By 2000, there were approximately ten times as many people on Earth as there had been in 1700. According to data from the CIA's 2005–2006 World Factbooks, the world population increased by an average of 203,800 people every day in the mid-2000s. The World Factbook increased this estimate to 211,090 people every day in 2007, and again to 220,980 people every day in 2009.

Globally, the population growth rate has been steadily declining from its peak of 2.19% in 1963, but growth remains high in Latin America, the Middle East and Sub-Saharan Africa.

In some countries, there is negative population growth (i.e. net decrease in population over time), especially in Central and Eastern Europe – this is mainly due to low fertility rates. During the 2010s, Japan and some countries in Western Europe are also expected to encounter negative population growth, due to sub-replacement fertility rates.

In 2006, the United Nations stated that the rate of population growth was visibly diminishing due to the ongoing global demographic transition. If this trend continues, the rate of growth may diminish to zero by 2050, concurrent with a world population plateau of 9.2 billion. However, this is only one of many estimates published by the UN; in 2009, UN population projections for 2050 ranged between around 8 billion and 10.5 billion.

• Estimated world population figures, 10,000 BC–2000 AD.

• Estimated world population figures, 10,000 BC–2000 AD (in log y scale).

• World population figures, 1950–2000.

• Estimated global growth rates, 1950–2050.

• Estimated and projected populations of the world and its continents (except Antarctica) from 1950 to 2100. The shaded regions correspond to the range of projections by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs.