People by the Billions
Date
 
 



1810

1930

1960

1975

1986

1999

2012

2026

World Population 
(billions of people)

1.0

2.0

3.0

4.0

5.0

6.0

7.0

8.0

Time Interval in Years



 

120

30

15

11

13

13

14


 
 

The number of urban dwellers will equal the number of rural dwellers by 2007.  World total population grows by 80 to 70 million people per year with smaller increments each year since 1993.  Urban population grows by 50 to 60 million per year with larger increments each year.  By 2017 the trend lines cross and thereafter estimated urban population will grow at about 70 million per year while total world population growth slows.  About half the urban growth arises from natural increase (births over deaths) with the rest attributed to rural to urban migration and additional territory classified as urban.

Source:  UN, World Urbanization Prospects: The 1999 Revision
http://www.un.org/esa/population/pubsarchive/urbanization/urbanization.pdf (downloaded Nov. 1, 2001)