Look at your watch for just one minute. During that time, 174 babies were born in the world. Maybe you think that isn’t many. During the next hour, over 10440 more babies will be born in the world.
So it goes on, hour after hour. In one day, people have to find food for over 250 000 mouths more. Just think how many more there will be in one year! What will happen in one hundred years
The population (人口) problem may be the greatest one of the world today. The world’s population is growing faster and faster. Two thousand (千) years ago, there were only 200 million (百万) people in the world. Four hundred years ago, the number was over 500 mil- lion. But in the year 1900, the world’s population was about 1700 million. In 1970, this number was over 3 600 million. In 1990, the number was over 5 billion (十亿). People say by the year 2010, it may be seven billion. That means in about 600 years, there will be only standing room on the earth.
At the beginning of the 20th century (世纪) , the population was around 1700 million.