LONDON, England – You may have be thinking of only one thing when July came around – time for your well deserved summer holidays to the Algarve – but July 11th was World Population Day. Read on to find out more about this event and some fascinating stats about the world around you.
How World Population Day started
World Population Day was cemented by the United Nations Development Program in 1989 following the huge public interest in Five Billion Day, July 11th 1987 – this was the approximate date that the world’s population reached five billion. The annual event is now held to draw awareness to the global issues facing the world’s population.
Did you know that five people are born and two people die every second of every day? That’s an increase of 3 people per second!
The current population is estimated to be approximately 7 billion. This rate of increase will mean that the world’s population will reach 12 billion in 40 years and 24 billion in 80 years. This is an astounding fact when you think that in 1000 AD the world’s population was only 400 million! The huge increase in recent times is attributed to increased healthcare standards and huge agricultural yields.
In 1900, only one in 10 people lived in cities. Rapid industrialisation meant that by 1994, one in every two people lived in cities. Over 400 cities in the world are inhabited by more than a million people.
20% of the world’s population resides in China- that means that one in five people on the planet is a Chinese resident.[
WHAT TO TAKE AWAY FROM THIS ARTICLE:
- 20% of the world’s population resides in China- that means that one in five people on the planet is a Chinese resident.
- World Population Day was cemented by the United Nations Development Program in 1989 following the huge public interest in Five Billion Day, July 11th 1987 –.
- This rate of increase will mean that the world’s population will reach 12 billion in 40 years and 24 billion in 80 years.
