Current World Population and Habitation Density - How Much Space Is There Left For Us To Live On

Current World Population and Habitation Density

How Much Space Is There Left For Us To Live On

Stes de Necker

The world population (the total number of living humans on Earth) was 7.244 billion as of July 2014 according to the medium fertility estimate by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division and it is projected to reach 7.325 billion in July 2015. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, world population reached 7 billion on March 12, 2012.

The UN data is based on estimates and can never be 100% accurate, so in all honesty nobody can possibly say with any degree of certainty on which day world population reaches 7 billion (or any other exact number), let alone at what time. The United Nations Population Division of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs every two years calculates, updates, and publishes estimates of total population in its World Population Prospects series. These population estimates and projections provide the standard and consistent set of population figures that are used throughout the United Nations system.

For most countries adjustment of the data is necessary to correct errors, omissions, and inconsistencies in the data. Since the most recent data for a single country is often at least two years old, the current world population figure is necessarily a projection of past data based on assumed trends.

At the dawn of agriculture, about 8000 B.C., the population of the world was approximately 5 million. Over the 8,000-year period up to 1 A.D. it grew to 200 million (some estimate 300 million or even 600, suggesting how imprecise population estimates of early historical periods can be), with a growth rate of under 0.05% per year.

A tremendous change occurred with the industrial revolution: whereas it had taken all of human history until around 1800 for world population to reach one billion, the second billion was achieved in only 130 years (1930), the third billion in less than 30 years (1959), the fourth billion in 15 years (1974), and the fifth billion in only 13 years (1987).

During the 20th century alone, the population in the world has grown from 1.65 billion to 6 billion. In 1970, there were roughly half as many people in the world as there are now.

World population milestones

8 Billion (2024)

According to the most recent United Nations estimates, the human population of the world is expected to reach 8 billion people in the spring of 2024.

7 Billion (2011)

According to the United Nations, world population reached 7 Billion on October 31, 2011.
The US Census Bureau made a lower estimate, for which the 7 billion mark was only reached on March 12, 2012.

6 Billion (1999)

According to the United Nations, the 6 billion figure was reached on October 12, 1999 (celebrated as the Day of 6 Billion). According to the U.S. Census Bureau instead, the six billion milestone was reached on July 22, 1999, at about 3:49 AM GMT. Yet, according to the U.S. Census web site, the date and time of when 6 billion was reached will probably change because the already uncertain estimates are constantly being updated.

5 Billion: 1987

4 Billion: 1974

3 Billion: 1960

2 Billion: 1927

1 Billion: 1804

Growth Rate

The population of the world is currently growing at a rate of around 1.14% per year. The average population change is currently estimated at around 80 million per year.

Annual growth rate reached its peak in the late 1960's, when it was at 2% and above. The rate of increase has therefore almost halved since its peak of 2.19 percent, which was reached in 1963.

The annual growth rate is currently declining and is projected to continue to decline in the coming years. Currently, it is estimated that it will become less than 1% by 2020 and less than 0.5% by 2050.

This means that world population will continue to grow in the 21st century, but at a slower rate compared to the recent past. World population has doubled (100% increase) in 40 years from 1959 (3 billion) to 1999 (6 billion). It is now estimated that it will take a further 43 years to increase by another 50%, to become 9 billion by 2042.

The latest United Nations projections indicate that world population will nearly stabilize at just above 10 billion persons after 2062.

By 2030 India's population is expected to surpass China's, to become the largest country in the world.

Nigeria's population is expected to surpass the U.S. population in 2045 to become the third-most populous country in the world, starting to rival China by the end of the century, with almost 1 billion people in 2100.

World Population Density (people/km² - 100 hectares)

Population density map of the world showing not only countries but also many subdivisions (regions, states, provinces). 

It appears from most scientific sources that the total Land surface of our planet earth, is approximately 149,000,000 km².

The land surface can be divided into four different types:

1.   20% covered by snow,  

2.  20% mountains,

3.  20% dry land,

3.  30% good land that can be farmed,

4.  10% land doesn't have topsoil.

This means that only about 50% of the world’s land surface is suitable for human habitation, ie. approximately 75,000,000 km².

With a current total world population of 7.3 billion people, it means that for every person on earth there is approximately 10,000 m² (1 hectare) land available. 

Bibliographic Entry	Result (w/surrounding text)	Standardized Result
Coble, Charles R; Murray, Elaine G; Rice, Dole R. Earth Science. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1987: 102.	"Surface Area: Land area, about 148,300,000 sq km, or about 30% of total surface area; water area, about 361,800,000 sq km, or about 70% of total surface area."	148,300,000 km2
Science Desk Reference American Scientific. New York: Wiley, 1999: 180.	"Surface: Land surface 150,000,000 sq km, 57,500,000 sq mi."	150,000,000 km2 Ads by Enterprise 1.1Ad Options
Weast, Robert C. CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics 61st edtion. Chemical Rubber Co., 1981: F-202.	"Data in regard to the earth: Land area, 148.847x106 km2, 57.470x106 sq mi. Ocean area, 361.254x106 km2, 139.480x106 sq mi."	148,847,000 km2
Weast, Robert C. CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics 48th edtion. Chemical Rubber Co., 1968: F-135.	"Data in regard to the earth (continued): Land area, 148.847x106 km2, 57.470x106 sq mi. Ocean area, 361.254x106 km2, 139.480x106 sq mi."	148,847,000 km2
earth fast facts. planetpals.	"surface area: 196,935,000 sq miles percent of earths [sic] ocean 70% * percent of earths [sic] land: 30"	153,295,000 km2

World Population by Religion

According to a recent study (based on the 2010 world population of 6.9 billion) by The Pew Forum, there are:

(1)  2,173,180,000 Christians (31% of world population), of which 50% are Catholic, 37% Protestant, 12% Orthodox, and 1% other.

(2)  1,598,510,000 Muslims (23%), of which 87-90% are Sunnis, 10-13% Shia.

(3)  1,126,500,000 No Religion affiliation (16%): atheists, agnostics and people who do not identify with any particular religion. One-in-five people (20%) in the United States are religiously unaffiliated.

(4)  1,033,080,000 Hindus (15%), the overwhelming majority (94%) of which live in India.

487,540,000 Buddhists (7%), of which half live in China.

(5)  405,120,000 Folk Religionists (6%): faiths that are closely associated with a particular group of people, ethnicity or tribe.

(6)  58,110,000 Other Religions (1%): Baha’i faith, Taoism, Jainism, Shintoism, Sikhism, Tenrikyo, Wicca, Zoroastrianism and many others.

(7)  13,850,000 Jews (0.2%), four-fifths of which live in two countries: United States (41%) and Israel (41%).

Population by Worlds 10 largest Countries

Rank	Country	Population (2014)	Share of World Pop	1 Year Change	Area (Km²)	Density (P/Km²)
1	China	1,393,783,836	19.24%	0.59%	9,596,947	145
2	India	1,267,401,849	17.50%	1.22%	3,287,265	386
3	U.S.A.	322,583,006	4.45%	0.79%	9,629,056	34
4	Indonesia	252,812,245	3.49%	1.18%	1,904,567	133
5	Brazil	202,033,670	2.79%	0.83%	8,514,209	24
6	Pakistan	185,132,926	2.56%	1.64%	796,096	233
7	Nigeria	178,516,904	2.46%	2.82%	923,766	193
8	Bangladesh	158,512,570	2.19%	1.22%	143,998	1,101
9	Russia	142,467,651	1.97%	-0.26%	17,076,310	8
10	Japan	126,999,808	1.75%	-0.11%	377,873	336

How many people have ever lived on earth?

It was written during the 1970's that 75% of the people who had ever been born were alive at that moment. This was grossly false.

Assuming that we start counting from about 50,000 B.C., the time when modern Homo sapiens appeared on the earth (and not from 700,000 B.C. when the ancestors of Homo sapiens appeared, or several million years ago when hominids were present), taking into account that all population data are a rough estimate, and assuming a constant growth rate applied to each period up to modern times, it has been estimated that a total of approximately 106 billion people have been born since the dawn of the human species, making the population currently alive roughly 6% of all people who have ever lived on planet Earth.

Others have estimated the number of human beings who have ever lived to be anywhere from 45 billion to 125 billion, with most estimates falling into the range of 90 to 110 billion humans.