Homo sapiens have been around for roughly 250,000 to 300,000 years, and today, we’ve managed to become the planet's most dominant species. But dominance doesn’t just come from being the loudest or the smartest, it's also about the global population. Let’s take a stroll through the population numbers and trends that have helped shape our existence.
Our Place in the Geological Time Scale
When we talk about Homo sapiens, we’re talking about a blip in Earth’s timeline. Earth’s geological history spans four eons, and we evolved during the Phanerozoic eon in the Cenozoic era. The Cenozoic era is split into three periods, with the Quaternary being where we are now. The Quaternary is divided into the Pleistocene and Holocene epochs. The Pleistocene started 2.5 million years ago, and the Holocene has been our home for the last 11,700 years. We’re still very much in it, despite our constant attempts to mess things up.
The Human Timeline
Looking at human history, the Palaeolithic (Old Stone Age) ran from about 300,000 years ago to 10,000 years ago. From there, we entered the Neolithic (New Stone Age), and around 10,000 years ago, we started the agrarian civilisations, based on agriculture. Fast forward to the modern age, and here we are, a species obsessed with globalisation, industry, and technology.
Surprisingly, we’ve spent about 96% of our time on Earth in the Palaeolithic. The agrarian period lasted just 4%, and the modern age is still less than 1%. Despite our seemingly significant place in history, we’re really just a brief moment in the grand scheme of things.
The word ‘agrarian’ originates from the Latin agrarius meaning ‘of the land’. It has been adapted over the years to relate to agriculture and farming. While we use the term agrarian to describe agricultural societies beginning 10,000 years ago, terms that other sources may use include ‘agricultural society’, ‘rural society’ and ‘agricultural civilisation’.
Human Population Rise and Decline
While the human population has steadily risen, there have been regional declines. The pattern is surprisingly familiar: migration, growth, overexploitation, decline, and stabilisation. As we moved into sedentary lives with agriculture, local resources became overused, leading to famine, disease, and even climate-related issues.
Population Numbers
Here’s a quick run-through of how the global population has grown over the last 30,000 years:
- 30,000 years ago – several hundred thousand humans worldwide
- 10,000 years ago – 5-6 million
- 5,000 years ago – 50 million
- 1,000 years ago – 250 million
- 1700 CE – 700 million
- 1804 CE – 1 billion
- 1927 CE – 2 billion
- 1960 CE – 3 billion
- 1974 CE – 4 billion
- 1987 CE – 5 billion
- 1998 CE – 6 billion
- 2010 CE – 7 billion
- 2022 CE – 8 billion
The increase is staggering, and it’s all tied to innovation, productivity, the chasing of profits and the growth of capitalism. The industrial revolution made it possible for the population to explode in ways that previous generations could only dream of. Suddenly, supply started to keep pace with population growth.
Modern Populations
The industrial revolution flipped the script on population growth. Unlike previous civilisations where population growth often outstripped resources, modern industry allowed supply to keep up. In fact, between 1900 and 2000, global grain harvests increased from 400 million to nearly 2 billion tons. But, despite this surplus, poverty and hunger still exist in many parts of the world.
It took over 100,000 years for the global population to reach 1 billion. Then, just over 200 years later, we hit 8 billion. And yet, greed and ego prevents equality and sharing.
Further Exploration
This blog explores the journey of expanding human population and resource distribution. To dig deeper, you might want to explore how different societies experienced population rises and falls and what factors contributed to these changes. Additionally, consider how innovation has impacted population growth and how abundance, while seemingly a good thing, can trigger issues like overconsumption and inequality.
Be curious. Dive into the dynamics of population vs. resources and how these trends apply to our world today. While the debate around population may never be settled, understanding the past can help us make sense of the present.
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