STANDING ROOM ONLY
Look at your watch for just one minute.
During that time,the population of the world increased by 259.
Perhaps you think that isn't much.
However,during the next hour,over 15,540 more babies will be born on the earth.
So it goes on,hour after hour.
In one day,people have to produce food for over 370,000 more mouths.
Multiply this by 365.
Just think how many more there will be in one year!
What will happen in a hundred years?
The increasing population may be the greatest challenge of the world today.
The world's population is growing faster and faster.
Two thousand years ago,there were only 250 million people on the earth.
Four hundred years ago,the number was over 500 million.
At the beginning of the twentieth century,
the world's population was about 1.7 billion.
In 1970,this number was over 3.6 billion.
In 1990,it reached more than five billion.
Now at the beginning of the 21st century
the world's population has passed six billion.
People say that by the year 2010,it may be seven billion.
That means that in about 600 years,there will be standing room only on the earth.
Each person will have one half to one square metre of space to live in