Human Population Through Time

Human Population Modern humans evolved in Africa about 200,000 years ago. About 100,000 years ago, we began migrating across the globe. Our population remained low—probably less than 1 million people. With the advent of farming, growth picked up. By AD 1, world population reached approximately 170 million people. Year: AD 1 Human Population: 170 m Dot = 1 million people Han Dynasty Roman Empire Human population: 177 m Silk Road Year: 300 AD Human population: 180 m Golden Age of India Year: 500 AD Human population: 177 m Peak Mayan Civilization Year: 600 AD Human population: 181 m Birth of Islam Year: 750 AD Human Population: 195 m Smallpox in Japan Year: 850 AD Human population: 215m Gunpowder invented Year: 1050 AD Human population: 283 m Navigational compass Year: 1200 AD Human population: 362 m Mongol Empire Year: 1350 Human population: 364 m Bubonic plague Rare decline in world population Year: 1490 AD Human population: 405 m Europeans arrive Year: 1520 AD Human population: 456 m Transatlantic slave trade Year: 1740 Human population: 714 m Industrial Revolution Modern technology and medicine bring faster growth Year: 1910 Human population: 1.7 b World Wars Year: 2015 Human population: 7.4 b Year: 2050 Human population (projected): 9.5 b LEVELING OFF If current trends continue, global populations will peak at 11 billion around 2100. Growth is slowing because average fertility rates are falling in nearly every country. 1950: 5 babies/woman 2100: 2 babies/woman If fertility forecasts are slightly off, our peak population will peak lower... ...or higher. It took 200,000 years for our population to reach 1 billion. And only 200 years to reach 7 billion. As our population has grown, so has our use of Earth's resources. Choices we make today family planning reduced consumption pollution controls habitat protection Choices we make today affect the future of our species—and all life on Earth.

Channel: undefined

Views: 15,270,396

Rating: 4.7801414 out of 5

Keywords: American Museum Of Natural History, Museum, New York City, Human Population, Human Growth, Human Evolution, Evolution, Earth, Science, AMNH, Global Population, Overpopulation, 7 Billion, Population Peak, Humans, People, Time, Future, Long term, Human Life, Change

Id: PUwmA3Q0_OE

Length: 6min 24sec (384 seconds)

Published: Fri Nov 04 2016

Reddit Comments

[u/JosephAWalker]

One thing that stood out to me at the beginning was where the populations stopped. I understand that the Sahara wasn't very hospitable, but why did the population stop somewhere in France and not continue into Spain for a long time after that?

[u/hanswurst_throwaway]

Two things I found fascinating:

• Even at the peak of mayan culture there where never that many people in south America

• It seems like the three big centers have always been Europe, India and China. Nowadays we see China and India as 'up and coming' economic powers, but in the grand sheme of things it's looks more like a return after Europe had two strong centuries.

[u/WestPastEast]

It looks like a combination of medical advancements and industrialism that really shot the numbers off.

[u/GreenBrickCreativity]

Great video, but the beginning is already out of date.

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2017/jun/07/oldest-homo-sapiens-bones-ever-found-shake-foundations-of-the-human-story

[u/Didactic_Tomato]

Stuff like this really has me wishing I was immortal.

Just being able to live through and see this entire process would be absolutely incredible. Sad. But amazing.

[u/BraveLittleCatapult]

It's fascinating and a little eerie that the World Wars didn't put a dent in the population. It's almost as if they didn't matter.

[u/jaylem]

So I guess that population acceleration to 7 billion in just 200 years is probably the reason why everything has started to get a bit weird lately.

[u/msimoens]

Am I reading those dots wrong? The new world population numbers and timelines seem to be WAY lower than I'd expect.

I'm basing this on my 4th year New World Prehistory courses I took in Anthropology in the late 90's (somewhat outdated) as well as oral accounts from current local indigenous communities and elders, as well as Wikipedia: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Population_history_of_indigenous_peoples_of_the_Americas

[u/monkey-neil]

China and India really had a big population relative to everywhere else since the early days. That is quite surprising.

Also damn ghangis khan killed a lot of people. Saw few dots disappeared when they invaded China.