A world population of 6.5 billion in 2005... and how many in twenty or fifty years from now? For thousands of years, human beings were a rare species and their numbers grew very slowly. By around 1800 however, the population began to increase rapidly, starting in the rich countries and then, from the twentieth century, in the rest of the world. This unique period in the history of mankind will probably come to an end within a century. What are the reasons for this growth, and what factors are affecting the population today? Will the world population level off in the years to come? How will the world be populated in the future?
These pages include animations, documents and fact sheets to help you find the answers to these questions, and learn more about the world population. Discover the science of demography, Find facts and figures about a country or group of countries. Imagine the population of tomorrow by looking into the future.
CLICK on the header "ALL ABOUT POPULATION" to reveal a drop down menu that contains
ANIMATIONS - Birth and family size; Understanding length of life;Measuring Fertility; Measuring Life expectancy; Population Pyramids
POPULATION ATLAS The world population atlas gives the latest United Nations population statistics for 230 countries and regions of the world. You can use its different windows to travel from one country to another, to see how the situation changes over time, to rank countries or to compare them with each other.
POPULATION GAMES Use our interactive windows to play with the factors influencing family size, to find out where you stand in the world population or to look into the future with the population simulator.
GRAPH OF THE MONTH Every month, a different set of recent population data is presented in the "graph of the month".
How is it constructed? What does it show? Click on the title to find out more.
