The world's population is 800 crores: How many people can the earth bear?

- Sign-in : Harsh Meswania

- According to the United Nations, two days later on November 15, the world's population will reach 800 crores. 100 crore heads were added in the last 12 years

Population. This one word is the root of most of the world's problems. From unemployment to hunger, from natural disasters to climate change, the challenges are looming large, and the continuous increase in the world's population is the biggest factor behind it. Although many attempts have been made to control the population, the rapid increase in population does not take the name of decline.

Another camp has arrived in the midst of continuous population growth. According to the United Nations, the world population will reach 800 crore on November 15. Its countdown has also been started in the United Nations website. An average of 3,85,000 children are born on earth every day. The United Nations has made this estimate by studying the statistics of children born around the world with the help of a super computer. It may be a few days sooner or later, but at the end of 2022 or at the beginning of 2023, there is no doubt that the population of the world will be 800 crores.

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The population of the world reached 100 crores in 1804 and touched the figure of 200 crores in 1927. No exact data is available, but according to reports, it took 123 years for the world population to grow from 100 to 200 crores. After 33 years in 1960, the population of the world reached 300 crores. By the time thinkers and policy makers around the world could formulate and promote a strategy, the population had grown rapidly and crossed 400 crores in 1974. It took only 14 years for the population to increase from 300 to 400 crores.

Global programs of population control were launched, countries including India and China formulated population control policies. Global organizations, including the UN, conducted awareness campaigns in countries where the population was increasing the most. On the one hand, plans were made one after another and on the other hand the scoreboard of Vastivadhara was spinning endlessly. In the 12 years since the policy was implemented, another 100 million heads have been added to the planet. The population reached 500 crores in 1987 and stood at 600 crores in 1999.

In the 19th century, the population of the world increased by one crore. In the 20th century, there was an unprecedented increase in population and in a single century there was a drastic addition of 400 crores in the population of the world. Policy makers around the world got down to business. A second generation of policy makers had arrived but population growth was not being controlled. By October-2011, by adding another 100 crore heads, the figure reached 700 crores.

A cycle of depopulation had already begun, which would take decades to bring under control. In 1960, when the population increased from 100 crore to 300 crore in just 33 years, urgent measures were to be taken, but at that time the focus of the world was focused in another direction. Instead of controlling the population, the powerful countries were stuck in the US-Russia space war and cold war. From petroleum politics to exercises to bring small countries under their wing, the power of these superpowers was wasted.

By the time numerous countries like newly independent India took steps in that direction, the population had grown rapidly. It would take decades for education and awareness to reach these countries, by which time the added population would also contribute to the future population! When the world population reached 450-500 crores, 40-45 percent of the population was 20 to 27 years old. Even if the young generation followed the policy, adding one child per adult to the population was bound to add another 200-250 crore heads by the end of the 20th century or the beginning of the 21st century. That's what happened. In 1950, the population was 250 crores, it increased to 600 crores in 2000. When the population reached 700 crores in 2011, it was estimated that the figure will be 800 crores in 2022. As that day approaches, the question is, how many heads can the earth bear?

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In the last decade of the 18th century, an American economist and philosopher named Thomas Mathews wrote for the first time in an essay on the possible challenges caused by population: 'In the future, the population will increase to such an extent that the earth will not be able to provide the essential commodities for the sustenance of mankind. It will increase the amount of immortality due to some reason'.

In the 19th century, hardly anyone paid attention to these words of Thomas Mathews, but in the second half of the 20th century, these words seemed true to scientists and thinkers all over the world. Seeing that the problem after population is getting worse in the world, scientists have an important question: How much human load can the Earth bear?

Socio-biologist Edward Wilson of Harvard University broke this debate in 2002. Studying the amount of resources available in the earth, how many people can it support? Edward Wilson tried to find the answer to that question in a book called 'The Future of Life'. After studying the amount of water, the grain production capacity of the earth, the area allotted for birds and animals and forest, the land available for human habitation, employment opportunities, carbon emitted by humans, etc. will not be able to.

Canadian-American ecologist Robert MacArthur died in 1972, but before that, seeing the state of population, he said that the earth could support 700-800 million people and that time would come in the middle of the 21st century. The fact is that in the first decade of the 21st century, the population of the world reached 700 crores. Thus the limit set by MacArthur has been crossed.

British ecologist George Evelyn Hutchison concluded that the Earth could carry a maximum load of 1100 to 1200 million people. Due to huge population, the earth's resources will be depleted and the number of disasters will increase unexpectedly. In the late 20th century and early 21st century, there was much debate on this topic, many reports and conclusions were presented. Most of these reports say that the earth will be able to support a population of 1000 crores and more than 1600 crores.

Well, the days are not far when there will be 1000 heads roaming the earth! After the figure reaches 800 crores in 2022, the population of the world is estimated to be 900 crores in 2037 and 21 years after that, the population will be 1000 crores in 2058. In the year 2100, the population of the world will be at an unprecedented level of 1100 crores. In short, the Earth's maximum capacity to carry the burden of man has been reached. Today, apart from the earth, another planet is needed for man to get all the facilities in order. It is clear that there is a dire need to control population if issues including climate change are to be resolved.

Gandhiji said that nature has the ability to satisfy all the needs of human beings, but not the ability to satisfy human desires. Maybe there is still enough capacity to feed hundreds of humans, but seeing that we use the earth's resources indiscriminately, the earth will wear down our load but our greed will not wear out.

Urbanization: A problem as big as population

In 1950, when the world population was 250 crore, 77 crore people lived in cities. About 170 to 175 crore people of the world lived in villages. After the end of World War II, the winds of change blew in many fields. The development of science and technology accelerated. Industries grew. Convenience of transportation increased. Work culture changed. Private-government offices began to flourish in multistory buildings in cities. It directly affected the cities. In 1960, the world population reached 300 crores and the urban population crossed 101 crores. In 1970, 134 crore people lived in cities. In 1980, that figure increased to 174 crores. In 1985-86, the world's urban population reached a historic 200 million, and by 1990, the number of urbanization reached 227 million.

In the year 2000, 285 million people of the world lived in cities. As of 2020-21, around 4,35,22,32,429 people live in cities around the world. Urban population is increasing at an average rate of two to two and a half percent every year. The world population will be 980 crore in 2050, while another 220 crore people will be added to the urban population. In 2050, the total urban population will be 670 crore.

According to the report of the United Nations, this trend of urbanization will reach a unique height in the 21st century. It means that in 2100 the world population will reach 11 billion and 85 percent of them will be living in cities. Only 15 percent of the world's population i.e. 170 to 200 crore people live in rural areas.

Asia and Africa will experience the most urbanization over the next two and a half decades. The trend of urbanization started long ago in America-Europe, so now urbanization has become stable there. In comparison, the trend of urbanization has increased in Asia-Africa as the wind of industrial development has now blown in Asian-African countries. By 2035, 300 million people in Asia will live in cities. The United Nations Urban Population-2022 report has also expressed concern about India's urban population. In India, 48 crore people lived in cities in 2020. In 2025, 54 crore people will be living in cities. This figure will reach 67.5 crore in 2035 after a decade. According to experts, today's urban life is not sustainable as compared to rural life. In the villages, lifestyle was created by giving priority to nature. As this is not possible in cities, it has a profound impact on the environment. Urbanization will create new challenges in the coming decades.