5/9/2023 0 Comments World population in 0 adInternational migration is a negligible factor in rates of growth today. The rates of population growth of the various countries of the world are, with few exceptions, simply the differences between their birth rates and death rates. Annual growth rates in all these areas range from one and one-half to three and one-half per cent, doubling in 20 to 40 years. The pre-industrial, low-income, and less-developed areas of the world, with two thirds of the world’s population-including Asia (except Japan and the Asiatic part of the Soviet Union), the southwestern Pacific islands (principally the Philippines and Indonesia), Africa (with the exception of European minorities), the Caribbean Islands, and Latin America (with the exception of Argentina and Uruguay)-are growing at rates ranging from moderate to very fast. Another group of industrialized countries-the United States, the Soviet Union, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and Argentina-are doubling their populations in 30 to 40 years, approximately the world average. Among the industrialized countries, Japan and most of the countries of Europe are now growing relatively slowly-doubling their populations in 50 to 100 years. The rates of population growth are not the same, of course, in all parts of the world. POPULATION GROWTH IN DIFFERENT PARTS OF THE WORLD Had this rate existed from the time of Christ to now, the world population would have increased in this period by a factor of about 7×10 16 in other words, there would be about 20 million individuals in place of each Even if the death rate were to fall to zero, at the present level of human reproduction the growth rate would not be much in excess of three and one-half per cent per year, and the time required for world population to double would not fall much below 20 years.Īlthough the current two per cent a year does not sound like an extraordinary rate of increase, a few simple calculations demonstrate that such a rate of increase in human population could not possibly continue for more than a few hundred years. To be sure, the rate of increase cannot continue to grow much further. To appreciate the pace of population growth we should recall that world population doubled in about 1,700 years from the time of Christ until the middle of the 17th century it doubled again in about 200 years, doubled again in less than 100, and, if the current rate of population increase were to remain constant, would double every 35 years. While there has been a steady increase of population growth during the past two or three centuries, it has been especially rapid during the past 20 years. The population of the world, now somewhat in excess of three billion persons, is growing at about two per cent a year, or faster than at any other period in man’s history.
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