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Population

In 1900, the total population of the world was 1.6 billion (1,600 million). By 2000, it was 6 billion (6,000 million). This massive increase was the motor that powered all the changes that the 20th century witnessed.

In 1900, the population of China was 467 million, Europe 325 million, North and South America 178 million, Africa 13.5 million, Australia and New Zealand 0.5 million.

In the 20th century, there was particularly rapid population growth in China, Africa and the United States. During its last 50 years, the world's growth rate was lowest in Europe, with the populations of Italy, Germany and Spain actually falling in the 1990s. By 2000, the populations of Africa and the US were much greater than that of Europe. The world's population grew most rapidly in the final quarter of the century.

Of the two most populous countries, China's population rose from 582 million in 1950 to more than 1.2 billion (1,200 million) in 2000, and India's population increased from about 300 million to 1 billion (1,000 million) in 2000. The population of the US, helped by mass immigration, rose from 76 million in 1900 to 274 million in 2000.

The highest birth rates were in the Islamic countries of north Africa and the Middle East, and in Latin America. As a result, the percentage of the world's people living in Asia, Africa and Latin America increased rapidly.

The main cause of these rises was a dramatic fall in death rates due to improvements in health and the availability of food. The decline in infant mortality in China and India was particularly important. However, by the end of the century there were signs that the population boom would not continue indefinitely. From 1980 to 2000, for example, there were falls in fertility rates in China, Bangladesh, Iran and Kenya.

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