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Each of the Little Yellow Dots on This Map? 1 Million People

Think the planet can handle all these Homo sapiens?

Brandon Weber
By Brandon WeberFeb 03, 2016
Brandon Weber
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We’re rapidly approaching a worldwide population of 10 billion people. That’s huge. But to really understand the growth takes a graphic representation. And we have one, thanks to the good folks at Population Education.

Here’s a little taste. Each of the tiny yellow dots represents 1 million humans:

In the middle of this clip, population growth appears relatively slow as people die in massive wars or from the plague and … well, just kinda don’t reproduce as rapidly as they have in the last 100 years. Where it starts to get downright scary is around the 4:20 mark, when the Industrial Revolution and modern medicine kick things into high gear.

At the very end, the video is a visual projection of where things will be in 2050. Wow.

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To learn more about the capacity of our planet to support life in such numbers, check out WorldPopulationHistory.Org.

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