INTRODUCTION

The present population of the world is close to 6.8 billion and it is growing at the rate of 1.2 percent per year with a doubling time of nearly 60 years. The rate of growth of population is, however, not a fixed quantity. For a long time, the world population remained stable. It was mostly in the second part of the eighteenth century that the world population started growing with an increasing rate, reaching a peak in the second part of the twentieth century. Since then, although the population size is growing, the rate of growth has been declining. The forecasts are that the rate of growth will decline further and the world population would reach a level of 9.1 billion in 2050. This module focuses on the historical rise and fall of population growth in the world and its major regions.

POPOULATION GROWTH IN ANCIENT SOCIETY

Ancient societies were small in size and for them population was an asset. While the number of people in a tribal band or a community was small, the resources of nature were plenty. Rich forests, pure rivers, large species of various types of animals, mountains and oceans formed the outside environment of ancient human society. We do not know what the natural death rate in ancient society was. As far as natural environment is concerned, it was pure and the density of population was very low. Therefore many types of infectious diseases would not be prevailing. This implies that the longevity could have been higher. Moreover, those who survived the hardships of natural life during childhood may have lived longer. Yet, due to attack by wild animals, violence between different human groups, excessive or short rainfalls, floods, famines, and attack of epidemics, the long term death rate was high. This means that even with natural fertility, i.e., absence of birth control, the long term rate of growth of population was extremely low.