The shadow of the world's future, or The earth's population possibilities & the consequences of the present rate of increase of the earth's inhabitants

Bibliographic data

Monograph

Identifikator:: 1775636852

URN:: urn:nbn:de:zbw-retromon-164018

Document type:: Monograph

Author:: Knibbs, George Handley http://d-nb.info/gnd/1045010944

Title:: The shadow of the world's future, or The earth's population possibilities & the consequences of the present rate of increase of the earth's inhabitants

Place of publication:: London

Publisher:: Ernest Benn Limited

Year of publication:: (1928)

Scope:: 131 Seiten

Digitisation:: 2021

Collection:: Economics Books

Usage license:: Get license information via the feedback formular.

Chapter

Document type:: Monograph

Structure type:: Chapter

Title:: Chapter I. The Outlook

Collection:: Economics Books

12 THE SHADOW OF THE WORLD’S FUTURE 100,000 persons became only 100,002 after the lapse of a year. [t is when we realise how extraordinarily slow Man’s average rate of numerical increase has been in the past, that we grasp the true significance of his rate of increase during last century and during the century on which we have entered. For the latter rate would have given the world its existing population in about 2000 years. With such a fact in view, and remembering that we start now with, say, 1950 millions, we cannot escape seeing that the world’s future is ominous. Thus suppose that the rate of increase was, as mentioned, about 0-864 per cent. it would double its population every 80-54 years, and thus we should have, were such increase possible, the following astonishing figures for the earth’s population, at the date-years indicated, viz. '— Date-years 1928 2008 2089 2169 2250 2330 Millions - 1950 3900 7800 15,600% 31.200% 62,400% It will be shown later that the figures marked with asterisks are not possible populations for this earth; and thus we are driven to ask, * What then will bring about the limitation of human reproduction?” The existing situation may be stated in another way. The human race has reached a rate of increase which is not only enormously great as compared with its average rate in the past ; it is also one which cannot possibly extend far into the future, indeed it cannot continue for two centuries! The traces which still remain of past civilisations suggest that circumstances formerly existed which pro- foundly reacted upon the rate of human increase. Of these, however, we have no reliable record. Either life on earth has been subject to great vicissitudes, of which historically we know practically nothing—possibly some geological evidences remain-—or else Man’s powers of

Access restriction

Copyright

fullscreen: The shadow of the world's future, or The earth's population possibilities & the consequences of the present rate of increase of the earth's inhabitants

Monograph

Chapter

Table of contents

Download

Monograph

Chapter

This page

Image fragment

Citation links

Citation recommendation