Читать книгу Practical Sustainability Strategies - George P. Nassos - Страница 21

Each of the environmental issues described earlier, consumption, fossil fuel reserves, water scarcity, and climate change are all related to the world population. Figure 1.4 [20] provides a summary of the historical as well as the projected growth in population.

FIGURE 1.4 World population growth.

The world population reached 1 billion people in 1804, 2 billion in 1927, 5 billion in 1987, 6 billion in 1999, and 7 billion in 2011 [21]. In 2019, the world population is 7.7 billion and growing at a rate of 10 million people every 6.3 weeks [22]. Most of this growth is in the developing countries, which may not be a major problem because of the lower consumption rate. However, as indicated earlier some of these economies are increasing as are their consumption rates. China and India are examples of such growing economies.