The birth of Danica May Camacho, who was dubbed the Philippines’ symbolic seven billionth person, began celebrations across the country Oct. 31. Simultaneously, festivities commenced in India, where officials chose seven newborns as their own “seven billionth” to celebrate the day when, according to the United Nations, the world’s population reached 7 billion.
“It was really exciting,” junior Abby Shapiro said. “I was with friends with the time counting down for the BBC to hit 7 billion.”
However, while some chose to celebrate the occasion, others see population growth less positively. Commemoration of the occasion was accompanied by worries about the world’s still increasing population numbers and the pressure they exert on the Earth’s resources.
“Population growth is the cause of all our problems,” science teacher Sweeney LaBarge said. “Natural resources, living room: how do we determine who gets what?”
According to the Population Reference Bureau, the world did not reach its first billion people until 1804, and only reached two billion in 1927. However, after that, population growth exploded, with the number of people reaching 3 billion in 1959, 4 billion in 1974, 5 billion in 1987, and 6 billion in 1999.
“Population growth is tricky because it’s exponential,” science teacher Ted Waterson said. “6 billion becomes 7 billion a lot quicker than 5 billion becomes 6 billion.”
However, demographers also say that the global population growth rate overall is decreasing. In fact, places such as Japan and France have almost constant levels of population growth. Even populous countries that are often thought of as rapidly growing, such as China, actually have small growth rates relative to their existing populations.
One suggested reason for this decrease is the greater availability of education for women. As more women are educated they become more likely to enter the workforce or pursue higher education, which may delay marriage and childbirth.
“We see a clear relationship between education and population growth,” LaBarge said. “The way to mediate the huge population growth in developing countries is the education of women.”
Another trend lies with development and industrialization. Statistics have demonstrated that people in highly developed countries tend to have fewer children than families in poorer countries.
“Developed countries have a substantially lower growth rate than underdeveloped countries,” senior David Streid said. “When development spreads to most places on earth, then growth will start to slow down.”
Others think that more drastic measures need to be implemented to curb the population explosion. One such measure could be the imposition of stricter population restrictions.
Ultimately, no one knows when the population will stop growing or how large it can grow. But until it does, countries worldwide must deal with the stresses on Earth’s resources.
“I think it’s going to come down to food,” Waterson said. “The population will stop growing when we are no longer able to grow enough food for everyone.”
While the global population continues to grow, countries worldwide must cope with the stresses on Earth’s resources. Long after the festivities of Oct. 31 have ended, the massive human population will remain a concern.
“Reaching a population of 7 billion is a major milestone of our growth and served as a wake-up call for those that don’t take our alarming growth seriously,” Streid said. #
