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Earth's human population recently reached 8 billion people.

Here's where they live.

Data visualization by Pietro Violo pietroviolo.com/

Data visualization of the population in countries around the world based on World Population Prospects data. "India's population will surpass China's in 2023. Earth's population will be 8.5 billion in 2030 and 9.7 billion by 2050. As fertility rates continue to decline in most developed countries, nearly all population growth in the next 20 years will happen in low and lower-middle-income countries, most of which are in sub-Saharan Africa."

About Me

Pietro Violo
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum

Ulf Dittmer
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Ulf Dittmer
• •
I'm currently reading Factfulness by Hans Rosling, where these numbers (and the underlying population changes) are used everywhere. It's a fascinating book.
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum

Loukas (They/Them) 🏳️‍⚧️
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Loukas (They/Them) 🏳️‍⚧️
• •
You could imagine aliens just referring to Earth as 'Asia' in the same way people casually call Netherlands 'Holland' or UK 'England'.
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum

🌼 Dagnabbit, Pascaline! 🌼
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🌼 Dagnabbit, Pascaline! 🌼
• •
This is all very depressing but I am cheered up a bit by the visualisation (with a bit of #Voronoi , which I always like). And then I am straight back to being depressed. The people bomb, it's so bad.
#voronoi
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum

Mikhail Yasnev
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Mikhail Yasnev
• •

It would be nice to view global resources consuming plan. I have read that US consumes about 40% resources.

If China and India will make their level of life comparable we can enter great resource crisis of the Earth scale

More important issue is the global plan for human populatioon to survive for the next 100-200 years minimum. We are not ready to return to Middle Ages tech

in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum

jackLondon
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jackLondon
• •
Also relevant to say that increased longevity is a bigger factor in increasing world #populaton than birth rate.....
#populaton
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum

Colin Fry
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Colin Fry
• •

@zorrobandito “Earth's human population recently reached 8 billion people.”

“Here's where they live.”

At this point, I thought we were heading for planetary-scale doxxing 😀

@Zorro
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum

OR Wine Woman
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OR Wine Woman
• •
It looks as though the increase in population numbers presuppose a steady climate, with no changes or disasters. 🤔
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum

lady troodle
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lady troodle
• •
does this projected population growth take into account global warming?
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum

lolonurse
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lolonurse
• •
This is not sustainable. In the 1950's, when the global population was 2.5 billion, the UN stated we were reaching dangerous over-population, & needed a global initiative to limit population growth, & keep it level. Religious objections & political & corporate greed squelched ZPG, & now the entire planet is at risk. Humans are so stupid & short-sighted.
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum

Tamar Yellin
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Tamar Yellin
• •
Wow, I'm actually surprised that the US is the 3rd largest by population. Not sure why that surprised me, but it did!
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum

Riley S. Faelan
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Riley S. Faelan
• •
@Sheril: Africa, the Green Continent, should be green, though. Oceania should be blue, the traditional symbolic colour of oceans. South America should be yellow, the colour of fire, after Tierra del Fuego, North America white, the colour of Canadian wilderness, and Europe brown, the colour of fields plowed when most of the forests were taken down.
@Sheril Kirshenbaum
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum

Martin De Wulf
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Martin De Wulf
• •
I made that website, if you wish to explore that dataset interactively: populationpyramid.net/populati…

Countries Ordered by Population in 2023

Did you know that by 2022, India would have a larger population than China?
PopulationPyramid.net
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum

Kofi Loves Efia
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Kofi Loves Efia
• •
2/3rds (66%) of the Earth's population lives in south/east/southeast asia.
1/20th (5%) lives in North America.
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum

Sheril Kirshenbaum
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Sheril Kirshenbaum
• •

I’m seeing some folks concerned about “overpopulation.”

As I outlined in this talk from a decade ago, we shouldn’t focus on the total number of people on Earth, but rather how they consume, distribute & waste resources (energy, water, food, etc).

The population projections included here were based on Hans Rosling’s work & have shifted a bit since this was recorded, but the arguments still hold. /2

youtu.be/JtyAQ2JK6E8


Rethinking population | Sheril Kirshenbaum | TEDxMonterey

Does parenthood make us better stewards of our planet? Is there hope for an overpopulated Earth? In her informative and inspiring TEDxMonterey talk, Sheril...
YouTube
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum

Geotechland
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Geotechland
• •
Yep! I think we can sustain more people if we distributed resources more equitably and made our cities more walkable and bikable
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum

Paul van Gulick
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Paul van Gulick
• •
Just watched the video - I see your point that this is a nuanced issue. Here I've always taken as axiomatic that increasing population is bad and decreasing it is good. I have much to think about - thanks.
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum

(っ◔◡◔)っ 𝑱𝑬𝑵𝑺
gotosocial - Link to source
(っ◔◡◔)っ 𝑱𝑬𝑵𝑺
• •
still I think the exponential growth is not healthy. Look at the graph’s… it’s not healthy. I know the arguments but we can’t bet on having more people to support more people. Seeing a solution in consume, distribute and waste resources is an utopian view. We live in a capitalist society. Look at our climate goals, we handled that pretty well didn’t we? We need less people and hope for technology to fill in the blanks. Having less people will result in less resources and less waste.
Future prediction
Exponential growth
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum

PirateRo
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PirateRo
• •
I think we need to reevaluate, given fast, cheap access to low earth orbit, asteroids and other planets. We have additional elbow room and an unending set of resources. I’m not saying we shouldn’t manage things, but we can’t just keep looking at the same old views.
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum

ニルス・スキニール
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ニルス・スキニール
• •
I believe it is a combination of both. Would prefer to see focus on rational population stabilization and resource usage. Of course the chance of that happening are about nil.
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum

Noah Cook
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Noah Cook
• •

I was expecting you to pivot from The Population Bomb to Borlaug, and so the turn to women and family planning confused me for a moment...in precisely the same way that Malthus and Erlich also failed to see your point.

I'd always assumed Malthus-et-al's primary failure was not anticipating technological advance, not the much more fundamental failure to understand basic human nature.

Thank you.

in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum

Elishevacarl
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Elishevacarl
• •
agreed. What really influenced my perspective was James McKinnon the day the world stops shopping abebooks.com/book-search/title…. In his analysis, the world population as is can sustain itself on the lifestyle of an Ecuadorean. One car, local vacation, yes washing machine, no dish washer. I loved just the realness of accepting that Americans have to be okay with the lives of their grandparents in the late 1940’s

The Day the World Stops Shopping - AbeBooks

The Day the World Stops Shopping: How to have a better life and greener world by MacKinnon, J. B. and a great selection of related books, art and collectibles available now at AbeBooks.com.
www.abebooks.com
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum

Sheril Kirshenbaum
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Sheril Kirshenbaum
• •

It’s interesting the way popular media frames declining fertility rates as a crisis.

Yes, it poses challenges & economic uncertainty BUT it also indicates that more women have access to:

- healthcare
- family planning
- education
- employment
- autonomy

Incidentally, when I’ve mentioned this on Twitter, I get waves of antisemitic trolls (bc of my last name) calling me a “globalist” & sending Holocaust imagery. /3

in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum

haley
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haley
• •

Excellent points all around, although I'm incredibly sorry to hear about the hate speech you've encountered in sharing it.

I'm curious if, in your work, you've come across reliable data on the impact of pollution and endocrine disruptors on fertility rates? There's an awful lot of junk science out there related to the topic, but from a layperson's perspective it seems closely tied to fertility, population and sustainability (i.e. safety of air/water/land).

in reply to haley

Greg Wellman
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Greg Wellman
• •
@haley_exe This is an important question. There's the worldwide decrease in sperm counts - if we're causing that with chemicals, hello "Children of Men". There's also the increase in people being openly trans (causing the right wing a panic attack) It certainly could be that the increase is entirely visibility due to greater acceptance. But it's also possible that higher concentrations of endocrine disruptors are creating more trans people in utero than in the past.
@haley
in reply to Greg Wellman

Sheril Kirshenbaum
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Sheril Kirshenbaum
• •
@gfwellman @haley_exe I've attended some interesting talks related to this, but I really can't add much as it's not my field of expertise.
@haley @Greg Wellman
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum

mkb
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mkb
• •
Ugh. I’m sorry humans are so dreadful sometimes. You deserve better.
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum

Montana Magpie
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Montana Magpie
• •

— I hope you do not have to deal with such trolls here on Twitter!

I personally feel that non-human species, and humanity too, would be far healthier and happier if the human population were under half a billion. And I see no real need for the number to be greater than that. But that is my modest personal opinion, and I don’t expect many people to agree with me.

in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum

Hahahagida
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Hahahagida
• •
I do not see the 6 points you listed as either negative or a problem, they are all good but I think the fertility crisis is more about contamination of our environment and micro plastics, softeners and other chemicals being the real problem with fertility. We humans polluted our environment so much we do not even know what causes it. Oh yeah and rampant antisemitism is one of the main reasons I moved here from FB.
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum

Debby Ryan
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Debby Ryan
• •
Energy companies are polluting the environment and no one should be surprised that it’s affecting humans and animals alike! They are killing all of us!
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum

SomersetWhovian 🇺🇦💙
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SomersetWhovian 🇺🇦💙
• •
Ugh - any mention over there that a falling fertility rate may not be a bad thing brings out the "Great Replacement Theory" types. And of course, according to them, Jews are ultimately responsible for all the ills of the world.
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum

Alyson Decker
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Alyson Decker
• •
also- we don’t actually need to keep increasing our population- like there are enough humans on this planet.
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum

Stefan Urbat
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Stefan Urbat
• •
Overall some decline in global population is not a bad thing at all, the most affected countries have to learn to cope with it anyway
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum

David Neto
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David Neto
• •

Ooh. I just saw an insightful thread over on birdsite.

twitter.com/Martha_Gill/status…

But really the article is at The Guardian.

theguardian.com/commentisfree/…


Why a shortage of Mr Rights means single mothers hold the key to the falling birthrate

Raising a child on your own is tough. It would be a lot more appealing with extra state support
Martha Gill (The Guardian)
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum

C.T. McGinnis
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C.T. McGinnis
• •

In case you might be interested here is economist Dean Baker's take on the all the alarmist coverage of declining population.

cepr.net/aging-populations-and…


Aging Populations and Great Power Politics: The Problem is for the Elites, not the Masses - Center for Economic and Policy Research

We recently got new data showing that China’s population shrunk last year. It is now projected to see its population continue to decline through the rest of this century. This is being portrayed as a disaster for China.
Dean Baker (Center for Economic and Policy Research)
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum

Tamara Marnell
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Tamara Marnell
• •

Good reasons for lower fertility rates: Women having economic stability and independence.

Bad reasons for lower rates: Those things being so darned hard to achieve that people who want kids need to delay for years as pregnancy becomes riskier and more difficult.

Most of the women I know had their first child in their mid-30s. I'm 34 and only now ready to try. Nominally we "chose" to wait, but practically it just takes that long to establish a career, pay off loans, and obtain a home.

in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum

Vir Cotto
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Vir Cotto
• •
What's this supposed to be? Last time I looked on a map I didn't spot 20 smaller countries in north america...
population graph from original posting with part of north america marked
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum

Led By Fools
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Led By Fools
• •
“If there were fewer of us, we would have less impact. We must consume less, and more importantly, we must breed fewer consuming humans.”
- Tracy Stone-Manning, Director, U.S. Bureau of Land Management

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