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C O N T E N T S Chapter 1: Chapter 2: Chapter 3: Chapter 4: Chapter 5: |
Introduction: The New Generations  Thanks
to unprecedented efforts over the last 30 years, the momentum of population
growth has slowed, is slowing and could slow still further in the coming
decades. At the same time, world population is growing at over 80 million
a year, and will only gradually fall from these levels. In 1987, total world
population was 5 billion; it will pass 6 billion in 1999, and will continue
to grow until at least the middle of the next century.
The "Day of 6 Billion" will be observed on 16 June next year. Human numbers will certainly reach 7 billion, but when the seventh billion is reached and whether world population then goes on to 8, 10 or 12 billion depends on policy decisions and individual actions in the next decade. Whatever its size, over 90 per cent of the net addition will be in today’s developing countries. There is no contradiction between lower rates of population growth and high annual increases in numbers: today’s lower rates are calculated on a much larger base. In 1960, at the height of the "population explosion", world population was 3 billion, the global growth rate was 2 per cent (2.4 per cent in developing countries) and annual additions were about 58 million. Today world population is close to 6 billion, growth is 1.4 per cent (1.7 per cent in developing countries) and annual additions are about 80 million (see Chapter 1). Using the PDF file below, browse or download the full version
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