The Rapid Growth of Human Populations 1750-2000: Histories, Consequences, Issues, Nation by Nation

Through extensive graphs, this book illustrates the global population explosion of the past 250 years. Every nation with a recorded population history is represented among the graphs, which make a case for a fundamental shift from a Darwinian world of ruthless competition to a gentler one with weak restraints on growth. This shift, it is argued, made tolerance, compassion, environmental concerns, and human rights possible, as growth of one population was no longer dependent on the decline of another. A case is made that despite the humanitarian views that emerged from this era, weak restraints on growth conditions are self-destructive because the expanding population is rapidly devouring finite resources. This story concludes that this growth is unsustainable and will lead to dire consequences.