Earth in Peril

Population Growth Rates, 1990-95
The total number of people on the planet is growing at a lightning pace and is expected to reach nine billion by 2050. Over the next half century, 98 percent of this growth will take place in the developing world, where resources are being consumed faster than they can be renewed. This map shows recent annual rates of population growth worldwide and the alarmingly short intervals at which some populations will double in size.