Now that the world has reached a population of eight billion people, we have reached a “milestone in human development,” according to CNN. This means that the population has grown by one billion people in just twelve years. The growth is due to the increase of the human lifespan, public health, and the effectiveness of medicine, stated by the UN. Medical advancements led more children to adulthood causing the increase of fertility rates in low-income countries.  

The more people on earth, the fewer resources we can easily provide as a community. This is causing people to fight for natural resources like food, water, and gasoline. As the human population has continued to grow rapidly the demographers have agreed that the growth is now beginning to slow down and will eventually begin to shrink. Much of the reliable data being collected comes from China. Nature News says that China’s population has peaked and will now begin to shrink every year until the end of the century, according to Nature News. 

Globally, the fertility rate has not completely dropped but it has gone down significantly. In 1950 it was 3.6 kids per woman, in 2020 it decreased to 1.6 in the United States. This will then lead to a lower growth rate in many countries stated by CNN News. 

 The UN has worked hard to make this estimate approximate by changing how data is analyzed and having the ability to collect each country’s statistics. Survival rates are predicted to increase in all countries but there is said to be a decline of fertility in places that are higher populated.  

There has been uncertainty surrounding how the world’s population will grow with the constant increase in demands for the planet. As we grow on earth, wild species populations decline, global temperatures rise, the forests and trees disappear, and our ocean becomes full of more plastic and trash. The population on planet earth matters and it is our responsibility to do what we can to make sure that we keep our planet healthy. 

https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/15/world/global-population-8-billion-un-intl-hnk 

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-03720-6 

https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/30/health/elon-musk-population-collapse-wellness#:~:text=Population%20projections%20by%20the%20numbers&text=The%20UN%20predicts%20the%20global,billion%20in%20just%208%20years.&text=By%202080%2C%20the%20world’s%20population,begin%20to%20decrease%20by%202100.