WHEN WILL THE WORLD BE TOO FULL?

Golden Bay Argus, Volume XII, Issue 46, 14 April 1910, Page 3

WHEN WILL THE WORLD BE TOO FULL?

The present population of the Barth, estimated at millions, is distributed very unevenly. The average density of the globe is about 31 inhabitants per square mile.

This total land surface, which slightly exceeds 46 million square miles, is composed of 28 millioD square miles of fertile land, 14 million square miles of steppeß (or comparatively arid upland plains) and 4 million square miles of deserts. Ravenfirtein estimates the maximum density of population that can be supported by the fertile regions at 207 persons per' square mile, and thus (allowing 14 persons per square mile to the steppe regions) obtains 5,994 millions as the maximum population of the globe.

The present rate of increase per decade is 8.7 per cent, in Europe. 6 per cant, in Asia, 10 per cent, in Africa, 30 per cent, in Australia and Oceania. 20 per cent. In North America, and 15 per cent, in South America. The mean rate of increase for the whole earth ie 8 per cent, per decade. At this rate of increase the Earth would be completely filled with its maximum* population of 5,994 millions Id the year 2072, or in 163 years from the present time—the present generation and the next need not worry much about the world being too full in their time ; but after that the poor old Earth may perhaps be getting a bit crowded,