7 Billion!

This month the world population has reached an astonishing figure of seven billion people. The population growth is so large that at the end of the eighteenth century there were a billion people and only a decade ago we reached our six billion mark. Just to demonstrate this, the population grew by less than a billion between the time my grandmother was born and mum was, but between the time mum was born and I was born the population of the world has increased by three billion. The problem is that we can't get an exact estimate of the world's population because some countries don't record their census accurately or they don't do it at all. So we could have reached the seven billion mark six months ago or we could reach it in six months time. The UN estimates that by the end of the century we might have as many as 15 billion. But other estimates say that because of fertility rates the population might even decrease. 

According to the "Malthusian Theory", "The power of population is so superior to the power of the earth to produce subsistence for mean that premature death must in some shape or other visit the human race. The vices of mankind are active and able ministers of depopulation. They are the precursors in the great army of destruction, and often finish the dreadful work themselves. But should they fail in this war of extermination, sickly seasons, epidemics, pestilence, and plague advance in terrific array, and sweep off their thousands and tens of thousands. Should success be still incomplete, gigantic inevitable famine stalks in the rear and with one mighty blow levels the population with the food of the world".

—Malthus T.R. 1798. An essay on the principle of population. Chapter VII, p61

In my opinion even though the population has increased by a billion in the last decade there are still the downsides. According to the theory that I attached above there are many reasons for our population to die out when we reach a certain rate. I think that this isn’t true because there was only about half a billion people when he was alive and I bet he could hardly have imagined that we could have exceeded a billion. And because of the recent development in vaccines and medicines I think it will take a bit more than a plague to wipe us out. But then again you haven't seen the film, "Contagion" yet!

MLA Citations:

1.      "Malthusian Catastrophe." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 19 Nov. 2011. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malthusian_catastrophe>.

2.      "BBC News - 7 Billion People and You: What's Your Number?" BBC - Homepage. 26 Oct. 2011. Web. 19 Nov. 2011. <http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-15391515>.