1. World Population Growth
Billions 12 11
2100 10 9
Modern
Age 8
Old
Stone
Bronze
Iron
Middle 7
Age
New Stone Age
Age
Age
Ages 6
2000
Future 5 4
1975 3
1950 2
1900 1
Black Death —
The Plague
1800
1+ million
7000
6000
5000
4000
3000
2000
1000
A.D.
A.D.
A.D.
A.D.
A.D.
A.D.
years
B.C.
B.C.
B.C.
B.C.
B.C.
B.C.
B.C. 1
1000
2000
3000
4000
5000
Source: Population Reference Bureau; and United Nations, World Population Projections to 2100 (1998).

2. Big Differences... Billions Less Developed Regions
More Developed Regions
Source: United Nations, World Population Prospects: The 2004 Revision (medium scenario), 2005.

3. Trends in Childbearing, by Region
Average number of children per woman
Every region has been experiencing declines in levels of childbearing. The greatest declines since the late 1960s have occurred in Asia and in Latin America and the Caribbean. However, at the beginning of this century, only the more developed regions have childbearing levels below the replacement level of 2.1, the level required for population to eventually stop growing and stabilize at a given size.
Women in Africa have the highest number of children: on average, about five children each, compared with nearly seven children 30 years ago.
Women in more developed countries have the fewest children, with an average birth rate of 1.6 now compared with 2.4 in the late 1960s. This low level of childbearing, combined with an older population, accounts for population declines in many European countries.
Source: United Nations, World Population Prospects: The 2004 Revision, 2005.

4. Trends in Life Expectancy,
Life Expectancy at Birth, in Years
In , infants born around the world can expect to live an average of 75 years — up ten years from today.
Africa will experience the largest increase in life expectancy: from 49 years to 65 years.
Life expectancy varies widely by region. In more developed countries, life expectancy averages 76 years, compared with only 49 years in Africa.
Source: United Nations, World Population Prospects: The 2004 Revision (medium scenario), 2005.

5. Thomas Malthus
“I believe that the earth’s population is growing too quickly and that at some point in future it will exceed food supply, with catastrophic consequences.”
T Malthus 1798

6. Malthus was right…

7. The link between Fertility and Wealth

8. Ester Boserup
“Global population will increase but human ingenuity will always find ways of producing more food. Necessity is the mother of invention.”
Ester Boserup 1935

9. Malthus was wrong…

10. Boserup was right…

11. Club of Rome Predictions

12. Who’s eating all the food?

13. Who’s eating all the food?

14. Getting older…
China 2009
China 2050

15. And older….

16. And older…
Tomoji Tanabe
113 years old

17. Will Earth cope? Some things you can’t predict…

18. Meteor strike…

19. Volcanic Mega-Eruption…

20. Nuclear War…

21. “There is no Planet B…”

24. Earth from 4 billion miles away