📸 World Population Day; Humanity’s Move Toward a Turning Point

📸 World Population Day; Humanity’s Move Toward a Turning Point

Based on estimates by the Population Reference Bureau (PRB) in Washington since the emergence of modern humans, dating back about 50,000 years ago, roughly 117 billion people have lived on Earth.

Today, about 8.3 billion people live on the planet, and this number is increasing. However, humanity is moving toward a turning point: according to the current United Nations projections, in the mid-2080s the world’s population will reach its peak—about 10.3 billion people.

According to a report by the Federal Institute for Population Research in Germany, the average number of children per woman has fallen from about 4 in the mid-1970s to about 2.2 children. Nevertheless, the world population continues to grow because the larger generations have now reached the age when they have children. A sustained increase in life expectancy also affects this trend. But when the number of potential mothers declines due to lower fertility rates, the number of births will decrease in the medium term as well.

According to experts, the Earth’s carrying capacity depends not only on the number of people, but also on the way production is carried out and consumption patterns.