World Population

World Population

Human beings have lived on earth for ten thousands of years, and during most of that time their numbers were small. Before agriculture was developed about 10000 years ago, the death-rate was high, partly because of a limited food supply. When people began to grow crops and raise animals for food, the death-rate fell. The population of the world grew lowly then.
The population of the world is not spread evenly over the earth. The average number of people who live in area or territory is called population density. The most crowded continents are Asia and Europe. Cities are more densely populated than rural areas.
Food and population cannot be separated. And adequate supply of food is one of the human needs. Overcrowding has a bad effect on life.
A main cause of famine today is drought-long period without rainfall. Crops wither and die, and animals starve. Drought is almost impossible to control. In recent years, famine has occurred in several African countries and in northeastern Africa.
More governments are helping families to overcome problems of population density. They give “family planning” advice to families that request it. Such families may plan to have the number of children they want.