THE WORLD IS GETTING SMALLER BY THE DAY - 7.5 billion People must survive on 8% of the Earth’s surface

THE WORLD IS GETTING SMALLER BY THE DAY

7.5 billion People must survive on 8% of the Earth’s surface

Stes de Necker

Seen from space, the majority of the Earth’s surface is covered by oceans – that makes up 71% of the surface of the Earth, with the remaining 29% for land.

But what percentage of the Earth’s land surface is desert?

Deserts actually make up 33%, or 1/3rd of the land’s surface area.

A desert is normally defined as a region that has a moisture deficit over the course of a year. In other words, they receive less rainfall in a year than they give up through evaporation.

This means that only 10% of the earth’s surface is not covered in either sand or water.

Take away all uninhabitable land like mountain ranges, marches, rivers etc. and we left with only about 8% of the earth’s surface as acceptably habitable.

Currently the earth must accommodate 7,500 billion people on 8% of its surface.

Surface Area of the Earth

Total surface area of earth: 510,072,000 sq km

Total water surface area: 70.8% (361,132,000 sq km)

Total land surface area: 29.2% (148,940,000 sq km)

There are a total of 5 oceans, and they are the Arctic, Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, and the Antarctic Ocean. Out of these five, there are three major oceans, the Atlantic, Pacific, and the Indian Ocean. They account for 90 percent of the area covered by oceans.

Water covers approximately 70 percent of our world's surface. Yet only 2.5 percent of the Earth's water is fresh and thus suitable for consumption. Not only that, but of that 2.5 percent, more than two-thirds is locked away in glaciers and not particularly able to help meet the growing demands of society. By far, the most abundant and available source of fresh water is underground water supplies or wellsprings known as aquifers.

The percentages of earth's land surface can be divided into different types: 20% covered by snow land, 20% mountains, 20% dry land, 30% good land that can be farmed, 10% land doesn't have topsoil.

World Earth Surface

Details                                                                           Surface area                Surface area %

Saltwater                                                                      352,103,700 km                      69.03

Freshwater                                                                       9,028,300 km²                       1.77

Good land that can be farmed                                       44,682,307 km²                       8.76

Mountains                                                                      29,788,205 km²                       5.84

Covered by snow land                                                    29,788,205 km²                      5.84

Dry land                                                                          29,788,205 km²                       5.84

Land doesn't have topsoil                                                14,894,102 km²                       2.92

The total surface area of earth is 510,072,000 sq km and that must accommodate 7.5 billion people.

That means that there are on average only 680 square meters of habitable land available for every person on earth.

The highest point on land is Mount Everest (8,848 metres or 29,029 ft) and the deepest known part on ocean is The Mariana Trench (11,034 metres or 36,200 ft).