The Global Population Situation - An Overview

While some of these projections may look gloomy, remember: we can change the future. We can create a new vision, a new dream for the planet. It is in our power to humanely solve overpopulation. See our "How You Can Help" section to learn what you can do!

• World Population in 2014 reached 7.2 billion.
• It has doubled in the past 45 years! Earth's population is increasing by over 140 people every minute ... equivalent to another Los Angeles plus another Chicago every month.

• Right now, with over 7 billion of us:
  1. We are driving over 50 species of plants and animals to extinction per day!
  2. We are destroying rain forests many times faster than they can regenerate.
  3. We are consuming stored solar energy (fossil fuels) at rates thousands of times faster than it is regenerating.
  4. We are consuming fresh water at least 10 times faster than it is being replenished in regions of northern Africa, the Middle East, India, Pakistan, China, and the U.S. 
  5. We are causing soil salinization and erosion several-fold faster than rates of restoration.
  6. We are over-fishing our oceans, radically changing the species balance in many places.
• For several years population has been increasing faster than many vital non-renewable and renewable resources. This means the amount of these resources per person is declining, in spite of modern technology.
• Other massive social and environmental problems ... political instability, loss of freedoms, vanishing species, rain forest destruction, desertification, garbage, urban sprawl, water shortages, traffic jams, toxic waste, oil spills, air and water pollution, increasing violence and crime ... continue to worsen as our numbers increase by more than 70 million more people every year. Solving these problems will be much less difficult when we stop increasing the number of people affected by them.
• Two billion people live in poverty, more than the population of the entire planet less than 100 years ago.
• Today there are more people suffering in misery and starvation in the world than ever before in history.

• In many developing countries, couples are still averaging 4 to 6 children. Nearly half of them would like to have fewer children, but they lack access to family planning (not including abortion). Providing the education and supplies they need would cost only a few dollars per year.
• While populations of some industrialized countries have stabilized, over three billion people live or struggle to exist in countries where population is still growing rapidly with doubling times of less than thirty years.