It took 125 years for the world’s population to double again, to two billion, in 1927. 32 years later it had grown to three billion (in 1959), and it took another 15 years to hit the 4 billion mark in 1974. From there the earth’s population doubled every 12 years – in 1986, 1998, 2010 and 2022. In November 2022 the United Nations bestowed the title of “baby eight billion” to an infant born in Manila, but it could have been any of the roughly 12 million infants born around the world that month.
It’s intriguing to study the demographic data documenting fertility and longevity. More than half the population growth projected for the next quarter century is expected to come from just eight countries in Asia and Africa: Pakistan, the Philippines, India, Egypt, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Nigeria, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The increase to the eight billion mark also disguises a new reality. Scholars anticipate his century to the first for the world’s population to hit a peak and begin to decline.
Florida is bucking this trend as the fastest-growing state in America for the first time since 1957, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. It is ranked #1 in domestic migration and #2 in international migration as 319,000 people moved to Florida in 2022 – approximately 1,218 per day.
