These pages contain PDF files which require Adobe Acrobat Reader. Population and the Environment World population reached 6 billion in October 1999, according to UN projections.
People impact the environment through their use of natural resources and the waste they produce.
The number of people on Earth, their distribution across the globe, their consumption patterns, and the technologies they use determine their effect on the environment. Due to population growth, every day each one of us shares the Earth and its resources with 214,000 more people than the day before. The response from the world's scientific community has been blunt. Based on various assumptions about fertility rates, the latest UN projections indicate that world population could stabilize at under 9 billion by the year 2050, or could climb to nearly 11 billion and continue to grow. Per capita supplies of fresh water are a third lower than in 1970.