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Biology and Social Problems

Department of Animal Science, University of Illinois, Urbana

ABSTRACT

Human welfare is profoundly affected by population growth. The Biblical commandment, "Be fruitful and multiply," has been fully obeyed. In 1800 world population was estimated to be 919,000,000, and in 1950, 2,406,000,000 (Table 1). This increase has occurred while the world has been ravaged by disease and famine. The power of a people to recuperate from losses resulting from disease and famine is phenomenal. A little more than 600 years ago the Black Death (bubonic plague) started in Asia and spread to Europe. It has been reported that the population was reduced by one quarter to one half and that in two or three generations this enormous loss had been overcome.

An estimated population in China in 1500 was 60,000,000, and today the population is well over 400,000,000. In European countries which were directly involved in World War II the estimated increase between 1940 and 1950 was 11%.

Population in the United States has increased rapidly from 5,308,000 in 1800 to 151,677,000 in 1950.