World population facts for kids

World population estimates from 1800 to 2100, based on UN 2010 projections (red, orange, green) and US Census Bureau historical estimates (black). According to the highest estimate, the world population may rise to 16 billion by 2100; according to the lowest estimate, it may decline to only 6 billion.

The world's population is increasing all the time because more people are being born than are dying. The population of the world can be changed by other causes such as extinction level events, and natural and un-natural disasters (e.g., earthquakes, war). In January 2012 the United Nations said the Earth's population had reached 7 billion.

Related pages

Images for kids

Countries population graph
Population density (people per km2) map of the world in 1994. Purple and pink areas denote regions of highest population density.
Greater Los Angeles lies on a coastal mediterranean savannah with a small watershed that is able to support at most one million people on its own water; as of 2015, the area has a population of over 18 million. Researchers predict that similar cases of resource scarcity will grow more common as the world population increases.
Illegal slash-and-burn agriculture in Madagascar, 2010
A government sign in China: "For a prosperous, powerful nation and a happy family, please practice family planning."
Estimated world population figures, 10,000 BC–AD 2000 (in log y scale)