Population clock, and overpopulation According to the U.S. Census Bureau's World Population Clock, on January 1st, 2005, at 12:00 a.m. GMT 0 there were exactly 6,409,765,942 people on the planet ready to welcome the new year. No one, of course, counted notes for this occasion. Even the U.S. Census Bureau is quick to point out that "the populations displayed on the clock are not intended to imply that the population of the world is known to the last person. Rather, the clock is our estimate of the world population size and an indication of how fast it's growing". It's growing very, very fast. Humanity had reached the 6 billion mark only a bit more than five years earlier - on June 11, 1999, according to U.S. figures - or on October 12th, 1999 by the United Nations. Whichever estimate is closer really doesn't matter a great deal, the end result is the same. The question really is.... How many people can the planet support? According to the United Nations estimates, we will reach the 9.1 billion mark by the year 2050. hania Zlotnik, director of the UN's population division, comments that this figure "will be a strain on the world". Richly developed countries will remain mostly unchanged (although their populations will become, on average, older), but less developed countries will see their numbers swell from the current 5.3 billion to 7.8 billion if the present trends continue. Although the birth-death ration in the United States us aknist even, and not projected to result in much natural population growth, current immigration patterns are expected to produce an increase from the present size of 298 million to some 394 million by 2050. Eight countries - India, Pakistan, Nigeria, Congo, Bangladesh, Uganda, the United States, Ethiopia, and China - are likely to make up 1/2 of the world's total increase. | 
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Although some experts believe that the world population needs to level off at about 10 billion in order to prevent catastrophic overload, other admit they simply don't know what will happen. It's not enough to simply plot resource production. Getting those resources to where they are needed is a staggering problem. A relatively small portion of the world's surface could probably produce enough food to feed even 10 billion people, if all usable land is kept under cultivation and if the food can be delivered and if economic markets can support those who are growing the food.
For many theorists, those are simply too many ifs. Population growth is similar to compound interest. More people tends to mean more babies, even if some of those people practice realistic birth control. Most experts agree that, barring massive disasters, the population will continue to expand. But some specialists point out that Mother Earth tends to whittle down species' populations when they get out of control. She knows exactly how many people, dinosaurs, passenger pigeons, mastodons, and so on she can feed. When that number is surpassed, any number of things can happen to reduce the excess. Disease, war, natural disasters, and starvation are only a few documented techniques she has used in the past. Is there a limit to growth? Only time will tell...
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