Chapter One

Balance in the World

―Population and Food―

Current and Future States of the World Population

Yoichi Ozaki

Former Dierctor,Institute of Population

Problems,Ministry of Health and Welfare

Keiji Ohga

Diector,Reserch Planning and Coordination Division

Japan International Centter for Agriculture Sciences

1. Current World Population

According to the UNFPA (The State of World Population, 1996), the current world population (in 1996) has increased to 5.8 billion compared to a population of 2.5 billion in 1950. Within the last half century, the population has increased 2.3 times, representing an annual increase of 1.8%.

This world population explosion since the second world war has never previously been experienced throughout the long history of mankind. It is believed that ever since mankind first settled down to form farming settlements, several thousand years before Christ, the global population has increased.

However, the rate of increase was never as quick, and natural phenomenon had always held it in check resulting in frequent peaks and troughs. It has been estimated that the world population in 1650 was 0.5 billion, and roughly since that time, the increase has been continuous. The rate especially increased after the Agricultural Revolution, at the start of the Industrial Revolution, in the nud-eighteenth century. It reached 0.8 billion by 1750, 1.3 billion by 1850, and 2.5 billion by 1950. Although there was a five-fold increase within the 300 years from 1650 to 1950, the annual increase was only 0.5%. Therefore, it is clear that the current annual 1.8% rate of increase since 1950 is phenomenal in mankind's history.

The feature of the world population since the second world war is not only its remarkable increase, but also the population distribution area and the significant differences in the growth rates between areas. The United Nations distinguishes countries as developed nations (Europe, North America, Japan, Australia and New Zealand) and developing nations (the remainder) [See Table1] , and the distribution of the world's 5.7 billion population is 1.2 billion (21%) in the developed nations, and 4.5 billion (79%) in the developing nations.

The population distribution of the 2.5 billion in 1950 was 0.8 billion (32%) in the developed nations, and 1.7 billion (68%) in the developing nations.

　

　

　

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