At seven billion people and counting, the population of the globe is increasing with no signs of slowing down in the near future. With an increase of a billion people over only the past fifteen years and a four and a half billion increase over the last forty-five years, it is reasonable to expect some ten billion people in the world by 2050.

Rates of Resources

Ten billion people might require three planets’ worth of resources to consume in order to survive. With seventy percent of the world’s fisheries under extreme stress and 100 acres of rainforest cut down per minute, Earth is buckling under the weight of the existing population — to say nothing of another three billion people.

Water and People

Access to fresh water will be a major issue of the near future. Some two out of three people living on the globe may have problems getting access to enough water. Furthermore, by 2030 half the world will require more food than they have available and forty-five percent will need more energy. If no progress is made on overpopulation, a third of the world will live in poverty for lack of resources.

Cities and Planning

Two thirds of all people who will live on the globe over the next fifty years will do so in cities. Cities minimize ecological footprints but also increase disease rates for inhabitants in congested areas.

To learn more about “What’s Next for Our Increasingly Overpopulated World?” take a look below at the infographic below.