GREAT EXPECTATIONS!

by Puru Saxena
Editor, Money Matters
January 25, 2006

REALITY – The human race is expanding at an alarming rate, which is starting to assert immense pressure on our planet. Global warming, extreme weather patterns, rising geo-political tensions and unrest – these are all symptoms of economic and social stress. Take a look at Figure 1, which shows the explosion in world population and gives us an idea of what lies in our future. At present, world population stands at 6.5 billion and roughly 50% of humans reside in Asia. In 1950, our planet was home to (only) 2.5 billion people, which means that world population exploded by 2.6 times over the past five decades! According to the conservative estimates by the US Census Bureau, our planet will add another billion people in a decade and world population will grow to 9.1 billion by 2050.

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