World population reaches 8 billion

[peppertree]

Source: CBS News

The world's population reached 8 billion on Tuesday, growing by 1 billion in the last dozen years and reflecting the rapid population spike of the past few decades, with India projected to become the world's most populous country by next year, surpassing China.

The world's population milestone of 8 billion people has long-term significance for both rich and poor countries. While it took hundreds of thousands of years for the world's population to reach 1 billion, the world grew from 7 billion to 8 billion just since 2010, a reflection of advancements in health.

As the world is expected to grow even more to over 10 billion during the next 60 years as the U.N.'s population division of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) reported, population growth is slowing relative to the past, and the U.N. warns that the challenges of feeding, housing and keeping that level of people from polluting the climate will be significant.

Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/world-population-reaches-8-billion/

---

The world's population has doubled since 1974 - despite growth rates slowing by half, to 1% annually, since then.

[bucolic_frolic]

1. That is really bad news

Nothing but poop and plastic in the future

[peppertree]

2. And lying yahoos

Those seem to reproduce more than anyone!

[jimfields33]

4. Only 8 countries are a problem

the UN should sit down with those eight countries and explain this is unacceptable. Perhaps place major sanctions on the eight like we did Russia in order for them to fund birth control and other necessary programs to stop this. A complete Disgrace thateight countries are going to ruin this world with overpopulation.

[progree]

6. Which 8 countries? I've never heard this take before. There are a heck of a lot of countries

that are well over replacement fertility rate.

https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/total-fertility-rate

[jimfields33]

8. I watched the video provided

[progree]

14. I did too. What an absurd take. There are many other countries with as much and

higher fertility rates than the 8 listed countries.

https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/total-fertility-rate

[peppertree]

16. Yes - in terms of sheer numbers, 10 countries (includng the 8 listed) now make up for 1/2 the growth

Estimated annual population growth (2022/23):

India: 13 m
Nigeria: 5.4 m
Pakistan: 4.3 m
China: 3.7 m
Ethiopia: 3 m
Congo (ex-Zaire): 2.9 m
Egypt: 1.9 m
Tanzania: 1.8 m
Philippines: 1.5 m
Bangladesh: 1.5 m

All others: 38.8 m

World: 77.8 m

[progree]

19. Sigh. Many smaller countries have higher fertility rates, and higher percent growth rates

than most of the ones listed above. But they shouldn't be sanctioned while the 8 or 10 listed should be???

That's like sanctioning California for having much higher carbon emissions than Wyoming.

(In fact Wyoming has the highest carbon emissions per capita of any U.S. state, 11.5 times that of California, which ranks 48th. But in total CO2 emissions. California is nearly 6X higher, thanks to having 68 times the population of Wyoming. But they have the same number of senators but that's a discussion for another day).

https://solarpower.guide/solar-energy-insights/states-ranked-carbon-dioxide-emissions

Edited to add I should point out that it wasn't you who suggested the 8 countries should be sanctioned.

[Delphinus]

9. Curious - how many

of those eight countries are also responsible for the most changes to the climate?

[jimfields33]

10. The video touches it a little.

[Dysfunctional]

11. What sanctions should be placed on the U.S.

[jimfields33]

24. None. We were not on the list.

[Dysfunctional]

37. Not that list, but we are number 2 for CO2 emissions.

Small countries may pollute more per capita but don't cause that much damage even if they have more babies. If the major countries that pollute don't do most of the job of cutting pollution it won't make any difference how much small countries pollute. I personally don't believe the world as a whole will do anything to even slow down climate change. I am 79 and am very glad I am not 20.

[jimfields33]

38. This is about population

[Dysfunctional]

39. The world is already overpopulated, it is too late to worry about the population.

Talking about population doesn't do anything. Climate change will take care of the problem of overpopulation. Outside of that, the world as a whole will not do anything to even slow down climate change.

[jimfields33]

42. Understand but the topic was population

[muriel_volestrangler]

55. People aren't a problem; it's their use of resources, and their pollution, that is

To put all the blame on 8 countries, because their yearly growth in numbers of people is highest, is one of the most despotic things I've heard suggested in recent years. And that includes stuff that came out of Trump's White House.

[brooklynite]

60. "explain this is unacceptable"

That's not how reproduction works. Unless you're proposing China's "one child" policy.

[Auggie]

3. I remember when 4 billion was a concern. It's why I didn't have children.

[peppertree]

7. Same here

That said, a big part of the problem isn't so much the number of people - as the pollution and scrap they leave behind.

Take the number of motor vehicles, which - along with GDP - have more than quadrupled, from 315 million to 1.45 billion now.

I don't blame anyone for wanting a car - God knows I remember the penuries of riding a bus and bicycling to school and work - but it's definitely good to see automakers finally take the transition away from the internal combustion engine seriously.

Remember when Quayle ridiculed Gore in '92 for advocating for the very thing? It's finally starting to happen.

[Auggie]

18. +1

I lived in San Francisco throughout most of the 1990s without a car. Walked and bussed almost everywhere and saved a ton of money.

[peppertree]

20. I tell you, people felt 'sorry' for me - but bicycling gave me some of the best memories

At 46, I'm a little too old for that sort of thing now - but all in all I'm glad I had the energy to do it, and that I did.

[Auggie]

23. Know what you mean

walking helped me lose a lot of weight. New York City, I've read, is (or was) the fittest city in the U.S. because people walk a lot.

[GenThePerservering]

56. At 46????

I was still bike racing at 46 lol. I'm almost 70 now and still riding. Keep going! Ride a bike is anything but 'penury' - time for more good memories.

[progree]

27. In many cities, such as the Twin Cities, we're being forced to get cars becuz bus service cuts

Last edited Sat Nov 19, 2022, 12:43 AM - Edit history (1)

They are cutting and re-cutting and cutting some more bus service. Due to a severe shortage of drivers. I had my main go-to route ELIMINATED on October 15. The other route, running only during narrow commute hours, will be cut from 9 trips each way to 6 trips each way in early December.

On top of the schedule cuts, they are also having a lot of same-day cancellations. Making it very seriously unreliable.

I fear that the labor shortage in certain occupations will be a continuing problem. There have been warnings, starting back decades ago, about the labor force growth rate falling to a snail's pace, and it's happening and projected only to get worse.

I know it's not very "progressive" to say this, but the labor force participation rate has been dwindling from a high point of about 67.3% in 2000 to 62.2% now. (It was 62.2% in January, so there hasn't been any progress in that all year).

Meanwhile the population of elderly (such as me) needing more and more service (me not yet but soon) grows.

Labor force participation rate: http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/LNS11300000

Labor force in thousands: http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/LNS11000000

Edit: corrected the link for Labor Force Participation Rate

[Dysfunctional]

40. I lived in San Francisco in the 80s.

If I remember correctly something like 90% of the people lived within 2 blocks of public transportation. I had a motorcycle just because I loved to bike up and down the coast highway. Riding South was a real thrill.

[Auggie]

46. Jealous

Always wanted to do that

[CountAllVotes]

50. So did I!

I'm a 5th generation San Franciscan.

I lived there until the early 90's.

I left after the Loma Prieta hit.

That was just a small example of what the next quake will be like!

I got the hell out of there and today they are building all of these really shitty overpriced condos south of market. If they are sinking and tilting already, can you imagine what another 7.5 earthquake will do? It will make the Loma Prieta look like nothing!

[Dysfunctional]

52. I knew some people who lived in Millbrae, about 15 miles South of San Fracisco.

They asked me if I wanted to see something really stupid. They took me up the hills and showed me houses. The houses were sitting over the San Andreas Fault with their back decks on posts.

[CountAllVotes]

57. Those houses are pure sh*t

My late husband helped to build those.

They were put up en mass for the new families coming up after WWII had ended!

None of them are worth a damn.

My husband told me that and he knew the builder of those places.

A giant they all are! You'd have to be to live in one of those places!

[progree]

5. India has recently reached fertility replacement rate and is on its way lower. China many years ago

now down to 1.7 per woman

[peppertree]

12. Here's hoping they have the same kind of success with air pollution

[progree]

15. And hopefully the U.S. will have success with curbing its per capita CO2e emissions

which are far higher than India's and are far higher than China's.

And when you look at CUMULATIVE per capita emissions since the 1800's, a still even higher ratio.

When one takes into account a lot of their emissions are manufacturing what we buy and consume, known as consumption emissions, then we get a yet still higher ratio.

[chowder66]

13. I'm glad to not have helped.

[peppertree]

17. Same here

It's a mad, mad world.

And lately, it's been getting worse in a hurry (for the most part).

[twodogsbarking]

21. Imagine your house is on fire and rather than use the water hose

you throw gasoline on it instead.

[peppertree]

22. Sounds like the Cheeto/deSadist rivalry

Burn baby, burn.

[IronLionZion]

25. Is anyone volunteering to get off the planet?

Some of these billionaires could take off on their rockets and not come back

[Samrob]

26. FREE BIRTH CONTROL RESOURCES FOR THE WORLD!

[peppertree]

28. +1

Of course though, implementation is another thing altogether.

But then, birth rates overall are down by half since '74 - shortly after the UN began taking the issue seriously.

So no one can say it was all for nothing (as Republicans so often do about the old UN).

[NickB79]

29. The planet probably can't sustainably carry more than 4-5 billion

And that's using the most modern farming methods available. We've been overshooting for decades thanks to massive fossil fuels inputs, aquifer water and rapid soil erosion, and absolutely no regard for biodiversity or climate change.

Eventually that bank account will run empty, and Mother Nature will balance the scales we've been unwilling to do on our own.

[peppertree]

31. And of top concern: WATER

In the 1960s, and '70s, when the need to bring down global birth rates was first seriously discussed at the multilateral level, food shortages were often cited as the biggest fear.

But it's good ol' water that we may run out of, if the world population grows that much more.

And the elites know it. Which is why they've been snapping up land in Argentina, Paraguay, and New Zealand: low population densities, (relative) stability - and plenty of fresh, uncontaminated aquifers.

[tclambert]

41. Isn't that what Thanos thought? Then someone said, "Ya know, we went from 4 to 8 in about 50 years."

Thanos wouldn't have bought us that much time.

The important part is maintaining that lower level once we reach it.

[Jskudris55]

30. Kind of hypocritical

That on a site that considered every life lost to COVID sacred, there are people who are saying that life is a bad thing.

And the people saying that this is the reason why they didn’t have kids…yeah, I’m sure that’s probably why. 🥴

As if you having a kid is going to somehow be the nail in the planet’s coffin.

[peppertree]

32. Life's neither good nor bad - it's just that birth rates should (continue to) decline, for resources

Especially fresh water.

[Skittles]

43. sacred?

no, we pointed out that the gun-humping "pro-life" party DIDN'T GIVE A FUCK ABOUT COVID DEATHS

but then, you already know that

[love_katz]

54. Exactly.

Yes, indeed.

[SunSeeker]

45. Jesus H. Christ. We're talking about saving lives by preventing the perils of overpopulation.

We don't have the water and other resources to sustain this kind of population growth. We don't want people dying miserable, slow deaths from starvation. Just like we don’t want people dying of covid. The point is we want to prevent human misery. There is no hypocrisy here. We are seeking to prevent overpopulation deaths and misery by implementing measures like free birth control programs throughout the world. We're not suggesting we kill people to deal with overpopulation. What are you thinking?

[love_katz]

53. +1,0000

You are right. Too many people don't want to face reality. Adopting the breeding dynamics of fleas and mosquitoes, or cancer cells, is not good for our planet. Earth is our only home, for the foreseeable future. Wisdom would be making the choices needed to heal as much damage as we can, and preserve and restore wherever possible. It really chaps my ass, when some people insist that those of us who advocate for population control and family planning are murderers who are advocating for living people to be killed. What we are actually advocating is that humankind reduce the incidence of harsher modes of population control by disease, famine, war, and collapse of the life support systems. That is not at all the same thing as advocating for living humans to go off themselves! Why is this so hard to understand? And, we have the Extreme Court trying to dictate to women that we have to carry every pregnancy to term, even if it results in our death, because their religion says that people with uteri only have value as incubators, on a planet where the life support systems have been strained beyond the level of sustainability. Thank you so much for stating a truth that too many people just don't want to see. Signed: the best gift I could give to future generations was to choose NOT to breed. Not sorry!

[roamer65]

33. 8 BILLION IS TOO MANY.

We will soon why it is.

[peppertree]

34. And the first thing to begin to run out? Water

[roamer65]

35. The exodus to the Great Lakes has begun.

https://www.crainsdetroit.com/crains-forum/climate-change-extreme-weather-spur-migration-great-lakes

[peppertree]

36. I do miss Michigan

The winters are fierce - but it's a great place. Nice people too.

[vercetti2021]

44. Eventually a mass die off will happen

The Earth goes through extinction events. We are next on the chain to die off. And we are making it happen faster with our greed and ignorance.

[newdayneeded]

47. No matter how many anti abortion

laws the right passes, it won't matter. Mother earth will abort a few billion people when she's ready. The earth will always survive. Us? well we're pretty stupid. I give humanity a couple hundred years.

[IronLionZion]

48. There are developed countries persuading their people to have more children

because they don't want immigrants from developing countries. Do it for Denmark is one famous campaign. Japan and others have it too.

The world had 4 billion people in 1974. So it has doubled in many people's lifetime.

[CountAllVotes]

49. So glad I never had any kids

I never wanted any kids.

I was lucky to have found my late husband who didn't want any either.

He was from a family of ten and grew up in Ireland.

His father was killed after he was born and left behind his widow that was pregnant with twins.

He knew all about poverty.

It was so bad he had to drop out of school and work the family farm.

What a hell that was.

I had my reasons too, mostly because it was something I never cared to have, children to care for.

I have a niece that is pushing 40. She has four of them now and is probably trying to pop out #5 soon. WHY?

I don't get it.

& recommend!

[peppertree]

51. I hear you

Thanks for sharing that.

I can relate to a lot of that - and it pains me whenever I see poor people sabotage themselves (and their children) by having more than two kids.

My folks had a lot of financial ups and downs - but more downs than ups (the good times never lasted), and they decided two was enough.

Now then. China, India, and Africa have over 1.4 billion people each - 53% of the world's people between them.

The data shows that among all the major regions of the world, Africa is the furthest behind in the birth rate reduction curve. It's lower than it was at its peak in the 1980s - but still much too high, considering how stretched their economies are.

[CountAllVotes]

58. ...

[peppertree]

61. Hear, hear.

God bless you and yours.

[brooklynite]

59. Don't blame me; I got snipped years ago.

[peppertree]

62. I'm in the same boat, so to speak

No girl in her right mind would give me the time of day!