World Population, 1950-2010

Year

Population
Billion

1950
1951
1952
1953
1954
1955
1956
1957
1958
1959
1960
1961
1962
1963
1964
1965
1966
1967
1968
1969
1970
1971
1972
1973
1974
1975
1976
1977
1978
1979
1980
1981
1982
1983
1984
1985
1986
1987
1988
1989
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010

2.5
2.6
2.6
2.7
2.7
2.8
2.8
2.9
2.9
3.0
3.0
3.1
3.2
3.2
3.3
3.3
3.4
3.5
3.5
3.6
3.7
3.8
3.8
3.9
4.0
4.1
4.2
4.2
4.3
4.4
4.5
4.5
4.6
4.7
4.8
4.9
5.0
5.0
5.1
5.2
5.3
5.4
5.5
5.6
5.6
5.7
5.8
5.9
6.0
6.0
6.1
6.2
6.3
6.4
6.4
6.5
6.6
6.7
6.7
6.8
6.9

Note: Population figures from the U.N. database refer to the population estimated or projected to be reached by July
1 of each year.
Source: Compiled by Earth Policy Institute from U.N. Population Division, World Population Prospects: The 2010
Revision, electronic database, at esa.un.org/unpd/wpp/index.htm, updated 3 May 2011.

This is part of a supporting dataset for Lester R. Brown, Full Planet, Empty Plates: The New Geopolitics of Food
Scarcity (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2012). For more information, see Earth Policy Institute on-line at
www.earth-policy.org.