Skip to main content Skip to Search Box

Definition: population from Processing Water, Wastewater, Residuals, and Excreta for Health and Environmental Protection: An Encyclopedic Dictionary

A group of interbreeding organisms of the same type or species occupying a particular space; the number of humans or other living creatures in a designated area. Population characteristics include birth and death rates, age distribution, density, growth rates, and sex ratio.

Summary Article: population
From The Columbia Encyclopedia


Population Growth
History and Evolution

General population increase in the world was negligible until the Industrial Revolution. From the time of the Roman Empire to the colonization of America, the world population grew from about a quarter billion to a half billion persons. By the early 19th cent., however, it had grown to one billion, and subsequently rose to more than 2 billion by 1930, 3 billion by 1960, 4 billion by 1975, more than 5 billion by 1990, and more than 6 billion by 2000; the United Nations estimates the world population could reach more than 11 billion around 2100. In world terms, the population is growing at about 1.1% annually (compared with 0.1% in ancient times and a rate of 1.75% as recently as the 1990s) in population. Although a 1.1% growth rate may appear small, it adds annually some 82 million persons—and even more than that as the population continues to grow—to the world's population, with nearly all of this growth taking place in less developed nations (as it has since the 1950s).

During the Industrial Revolution, advancements in sanitation, technology, and the means of food distribution made possible a drop in the death rate so significant that between 1650 and 1900 the population of Europe almost quadrupled (from about 100 million to about 400 million) in spite of considerable emigration. As the rate of population growth increased, so did concern that the earth might not be able to sustain future populations. The phenomenal increase in numbers led Thomas Robert Malthus to predict that the population would eventually outstrip the food supply. Karl Marx emphatically rejected this view and argued that the problem was not one of overpopulation but of unequal distribution of goods, a problem that even a declining population would not solve.

Modern Population Growth

In the late 20th cent., a major population difference arose in the comparative growth rates of the developed (0.6%) and developing (2.1%) nations. Africa's annual growth rate is now about 2.4%, compared to 0.9% for Asia, 0.9% in Latin America, and 0.4% in Europe. If current rates hold steady, many developing countries will double their populations in 25 years or less, compared to 50 years or more for industrialized nations.

Great Britain, for example, has accomplished what is known as demographic transition, i.e., it has moved from a condition of high birthrate and high death rate (before the Industrial Revolution), to one of high birthrate and low death rate (during industrialization), and finally to one of low birthrate and low death rate (as a postindustrial society). Most developing countries, especially in Africa, are in a condition of high birthrate and declining death rate, contributing to what is known as the population explosion.

Population Control




  • See D. Glass; D. Eversley, Population in History (1965);.
  • Borrie, W. D. , The Growth and Control of World Population (1970);.
  • Chamberlain, N. W. , Beyond Malthus (1970);.
  • Fraser, D. , The People Problem (1971);.
  • Hauser, P. , Population and the Urban Future (1982);.
  • Davis, K. , Resources, Environment and Population (1991).
The Columbia Encyclopedia, © Columbia University Press 2018

Related Articles

Full text Article Population
The Development Dictionary

For the purpose of this essay, I take the development discourse since 1949 as the context within which to discuss the concept of population. To...

Full text Article Population
Encyclopedia of Environment and Society

AS OF MID-2006, the earth’s human population stood at approximately 6.48 billion. In 1 c.e ., it is estimated that the global population was...

Full text Article Population
Cultural Sociology of the Middle East, Asia, and Africa


See more from Credo