21st Century Population Growth

by Vikrant Pendharkar

Submitted : Spring 2017

As human population continues to grow, more problems continue to arise. From lack of water resources to excessive carbon emissions, most environmental issues can be traced back to population growth. Using a logistic model for population growth it was predicted that the Earth’s population in 2050 would be approximately 8.184 billion people. The logistic model took into account 21^st century growth rate of 1.21% per year and a controversial and high debated carrying capacity of 10 billion people. Using the logistic growth model, instead of the exponential growth model, the effect of certain limitations on population growth could be taken into account when predicting future population. The logistic model also plateaus unlike the exponential model because at a certain point, the surrounding environment can no longer sustain more numbers. 

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