A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agreed definition of the lower boundary for their size. In a narrower sense, a city can be defined as a permanent and densely populated place with administratively defined boundaries whose members work primarily on non-agricultural tasks. Cities generally have extensive systems for housing , transportation , sanitation , utilities , land use , production of goods , and communication . Their density facilitates interaction between people, government organizations , and businesses , sometimes benefiting different parties in the process, such as improving the efficiency of goods and service distribution.
115-582: Prairie Home is a city , in Cooper County , Missouri , United States. The population was 280 at the 2010 census . The town of Prairie Home was laid out in 1874 around the Prairie Home Institute, a school that had been built some time earlier. Prairie Home is a descriptive name, referring to its scenic setting on the prairie. Prairie Home is located along Missouri Route 87 at its intersection with routes J and EE . The community
230-403: A 70 percent probability the world population will not stabilize this century. Population, which had sort of fallen off the world's agenda, remains a very important issue." The table below shows historical and predicted regional population figures in millions. The availability of historical population figures varies by region. The following table gives estimates, in millions, of population in
345-577: A central area containing buildings with special economic, political, and religious significance. Archaeologists refer to this area by the Greek term temenos or if fortified as a citadel . These spaces historically reflect and amplify the city's centrality and importance to its wider sphere of influence . Today cities have a city center or downtown , sometimes coincident with a central business district . Cities typically have public spaces where anyone can go. These include privately owned spaces open to
460-665: A central authority. The term can also refer either to the physical streets and buildings of the city or to the collection of people who dwell there and can be used in a general sense to mean urban rather than rural territory . National censuses use a variety of definitions – invoking factors such as population , population density , number of dwellings , economic function, and infrastructure – to classify populations as urban. Typical working definitions for small-city populations start at around 100,000 people. Common population definitions for an urban area (city or town) range between 1,500 and 50,000 people, with most U.S. states using
575-461: A central point. This form could evolve from successive growth over a long time, with concentric traces of town walls and citadels marking older city boundaries. In more recent history, such forms were supplemented by ring roads moving traffic around the outskirts of a town. Dutch cities such as Amsterdam and Haarlem are structured as a central square surrounded by concentric canals marking every expansion. In cities such as Moscow , this pattern
690-513: A combination of Mongol invasions, famine, and plague. Starting in AD 2, the Han dynasty of ancient China kept consistent family registers to properly assess the poll taxes and labor service duties of each household. In that year, the population of Western Han was recorded as 57,671,400 individuals in 12,366,470 households, decreasing to 47,566,772 individuals in 9,348,227 households by AD 146, towards
805-552: A combination of these. Societies that live in cities are often called civilizations . The degree of urbanization is a modern metric to help define what comprises a city: "a population of at least 50,000 inhabitants in contiguous dense grid cells (>1,500 inhabitants per square kilometer)". This metric was "devised over years by the European Commission , OECD , World Bank and others, and endorsed in March [2021] by
920-620: A continuous urban landscape called urban agglomeration , conurbation , or megalopolis (exemplified by the BosWash corridor of the Northeastern United States .) The emergence of cities from proto-urban settlements , such as Çatalhöyük , is a non-linear development that demonstrates the varied experiences of early urbanization . The cities of Jericho , Aleppo , Byblos , Faiyum , Yerevan , Athens , Matera , Damascus , and Argos are among those laying claim to
1035-430: A distinctive elite social class, but it should indeed be considered a city based on a functional redefinition of urban development. In particular, Jenné-Jeno featured settlement mounds arranged according to a horizontal, rather than vertical, power hierarchy, and served as a center of specialized production and exhibited functional interdependence with the surrounding hinterland. More recently, scholars have concluded that
1150-477: A grid plan with specialized districts used across the Hellenistic Mediterranean . The urban-type settlement extends far beyond the traditional boundaries of the city proper in a form of development sometimes described critically as urban sprawl . Decentralization and dispersal of city functions (commercial, industrial, residential, cultural, political) has transformed the very meaning of
1265-430: A household in the city was $ 29,375, and the median income for a family was $ 37,250. Males had a median income of $ 31,250 versus $ 19,375 for females. The per capita income for the city was $ 15,182. About 3.4% of families and 6.0% of the population were below the poverty line , including 3.1% of those under the age of eighteen and 16.7% of those 65 or over. City#United States Historically, city dwellers have been
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#17328009393891380-511: A key role in both the economy and government. Late antique cities in the East were also undergoing intense transformations, with increased political participation of the crowds and demographical fluctuations. Christian communities and their doctrinal differences increasingly shaped the urban fabric. The locus of power shifted to Constantinople and to the ascendant Islamic civilization with its major cities Baghdad , Cairo , and Córdoba . From
1495-533: A lack of accurate records. Haub (1995) estimates that around 40% of those who have ever lived did not survive beyond their first birthday. Haub also stated that " life expectancy at birth probably averaged only about ten years for most of human history", which is not to be mistaken for the life expectancy after reaching adulthood. The latter equally depended on period, location and social standing, but calculations identify averages from roughly 30 years upward. The National Institute of Corrections estimates that
1610-412: A large scale. Asia is the most populous continent, with its 4.64 billion inhabitants accounting for 60% of the world population. The world's two most populated countries, India and China, together constitute about 36% of the world's population. Africa is the second most populated continent, with around 1.34 billion people, or 17% of the world's population. Europe's 747 million people make up 10% of
1725-424: A low of 7.4 billion to a high of more than 10.6 billion. Projected figures vary depending on underlying statistical assumptions and the variables used in projection calculations, especially the fertility and mortality variables. Long-range predictions to 2150 range from a population decline to 3.2 billion in the "low scenario", to "high scenarios" of 24.8 billion. One extreme scenario predicted
1840-499: A massive increase to 256 billion by 2150, assuming the global fertility rate remained at its 1995 level of 3.04 children per woman; however, by 2010 the global fertility rate had declined to 2.52. There is no estimation for the exact day or month the world's population surpassed one or two billion. The points at which it reached three and four billion were not officially noted, but the International Database of
1955-531: A minimum between 1,500 and 5,000 inhabitants. Some jurisdictions set no such minima. In the United Kingdom , city status is awarded by the Crown and then remains permanent. (Historically, the qualifying factor was the presence of a cathedral , resulting in some very small cities such as Wells , with a population of 12,000 as of 2018 , and St Davids , with a population of 1,841 as of 2011 .) According to
2070-432: A population bottleneck of between 1,000 and 10,000 people about 70,000 BC, according to the now largely discredited Toba catastrophe theory . By contrast, it is estimated that around 50–60 million people lived in the combined eastern and western Roman Empire in the 4th century AD. The Plague of Justinian caused Europe's population to drop by around 50% between the 6th and 8th centuries AD. The population of Europe
2185-402: A population of over 139 million in 2020. In just one hundred years, the population of Brazil decupled (x10), from about 17 million in 1900, or about 1% of the world population in that year, to about 176 million in 2000, or almost 3% of the global population in the very early 21st century. Mexico's population grew from 13.6 million in 1900 to about 112 million in 2010. Between
2300-703: A privileged elite among towns having won self-governance from their local lord or having been granted self-governance by the emperor and being placed under his immediate protection. By 1480, these cities, as far as still part of the empire, became part of the Imperial Estates governing the empire with the emperor through the Imperial Diet . By the 13th and 14th centuries, some cities become powerful states, taking surrounding areas under their control or establishing extensive maritime empires. In Italy, medieval communes developed into city-states including
2415-495: A rule cannot produce their own food and therefore must develop some relationship with a hinterland that sustains them. Only in special cases such as mining towns which play a vital role in long-distance trade, are cities disconnected from the countryside which feeds them. Thus, centrality within a productive region influences siting, as economic forces would, in theory, favor the creation of marketplaces in optimal mutually reachable locations. The vast majority of cities have
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#17328009393892530-452: A small proportion of humanity overall, but following two centuries of unprecedented and rapid urbanization , more than half of the world population now lives in cities, which has had profound consequences for global sustainability . Present-day cities usually form the core of larger metropolitan areas and urban areas —creating numerous commuters traveling toward city centres for employment, entertainment, and education. However, in
2645-454: A steady decline in population growth rate; the global population is expected to reach between 8.3 and 10.9 billion by 2050. 2003 UN Population Division population projections for the year 2150 range between 3.2 and 24.8 billion. One of many independent mathematical models supports the lower estimate, while a 2014 estimate forecasts between 9.3 and 12.6 billion in 2100, and continued growth thereafter. The 2019 Revision of
2760-549: A super-wealthy elite living in gated communities and large masses of people living in substandard housing with inadequate infrastructure and otherwise poor conditions. Cities around the world have expanded physically as they grow in population, with increases in their surface extent, with the creation of high-rise buildings for residential and commercial use, and with development underground. Urbanization can create rapid demand for water resources management , as formerly good sources of freshwater become overused and polluted, and
2875-423: A temple. A minority viewpoint considers that cities may have arisen without agriculture, due to alternative means of subsistence (fishing), to use as communal seasonal shelters, to their value as bases for defensive and offensive military organization, or to their inherent economic function. Cities played a crucial role in the establishment of political power over an area, and ancient leaders such as Alexander
2990-567: A workers' town associated with the pyramid of Senusret II , and the religious city Amarna built by Akhenaten and abandoned. These sites appear planned in a highly regimented and stratified fashion, with a minimalistic grid of rooms for the workers and increasingly more elaborate housing available for higher classes. In Mesopotamia, the civilization of Sumer , followed by Assyria and Babylon , gave rise to numerous cities, governed by kings and fostered multiple languages written in cuneiform . The Phoenician trading empire, flourishing around
3105-471: A world of intensifying globalization , all cities are to varying degrees also connected globally beyond these regions. This increased influence means that cities also have significant influences on global issues , such as sustainable development , climate change , and global health . Because of these major influences on global issues, the international community has prioritized investment in sustainable cities through Sustainable Development Goal 11 . Due to
3220-548: Is 1.5 miles west of the Cooper- Moniteau county line and approximately 13 miles southeast of Boonville . The Prairie Home Conservation Area is two miles south along Schaaf Creek . According to the United States Census Bureau , the city has a total area of 0.39 square miles (1.01 km), all land. As of the census of 2010, there were 280 people, 121 households, and 85 families living in
3335-557: Is 31 years. Estimates of world population by their nature are an aspect of modernity , possible only since the Age of Discovery . Early estimates for the population of the world date to the 17th century: William Petty , in 1682, estimated the world population at 320 million (current estimates ranging close to twice this number); by the late 18th century, estimates ranged close to one billion (consistent with current estimates). More refined estimates, broken down by continents, were published in
3450-400: Is currently (2015–20) 140 million/year, is projected to peak during the period 2040–45 at 141 million/year and thereafter decline slowly to 126 million/year by 2100. The total number of deaths is currently 57 million/year and is projected to grow steadily to 121 million/year by 2100. 2012 United Nations projections show a continued increase in population in the near future with
3565-428: Is given by the statistician Jorgen Randers, who argues that traditional projections insufficiently take into account the downward impact of global urbanization on fertility. Randers' "most likely scenario" reveals a peak in the world population in the early 2040s at about 8.1 billion people, followed by decline. Adrian Raftery, a University of Washington professor of statistics and of sociology, states that "there's
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3680-425: Is significant uncertainty about its long-term trajectory due to changing fertility and mortality rates. The UN Department of Economics and Social Affairs projects between 9 and 10 billion people by 2050 and gives an 80% confidence interval of 10–12 billion by the end of the 21st century, with a growth rate by then of zero. Other demographers predict that the human population will begin to decline in
3795-517: Is still clearly visible. A system of rectilinear city streets and land plots, known as the grid plan , has been used for millennia in Asia, Europe, and the Americas. The Indus Valley Civilization built Mohenjo-Daro , Harappa , and other cities on a grid pattern, using ancient principles described by Kautilya , and aligned with the compass points . The ancient Greek city of Priene exemplifies
3910-479: Is that as agriculture advances in creating more food, the population consequently increases—the Neolithic Revolution and Green Revolution often specifically provided as examples of such agricultural breakthroughs. Furthermore, certain scientific studies do lend evidence to food availability in particular being the dominant factor within a more recent timeframe. Other studies take it as
4025-642: Is the fact that average global birth rates , as well as mortality rates , are declining rapidly, as the nations of the world progress through the stages of the demographic transition, but both vary greatly between developed countries (where birth rates and mortality rates are often low) and developing countries (where birth and mortality rates typically remain high). Different ethnicities also display varying birth rates. Birth rate and mortality rates can change rapidly due to disease epidemics , wars and other mass catastrophes, or advances in medicine and public health . The UN's first report in 1951 showed that during
4140-465: Is the largest language family by number of speakers. Standard Arabic is a language with no native speakers, but the total number of speakers is estimated at 274 million people. The largest religious categories in the world as of 2020 are estimated as follows: Christianity (31%), Islam (25%), Unaffiliated (16%) and Hinduism (15%). Six of the Earth's seven continents are permanently inhabited on
4255-420: Is the most urban continent, with four-fifths of its population living in cities, including one-fifth of the population said to live in shantytowns ( favelas , poblaciones callampas , etc.). Batam , Indonesia , Mogadishu , Somalia , Xiamen , China , and Niamey , Niger , are considered among the world's fastest-growing cities, with annual growth rates of 5–8%. In general, the more developed countries of
4370-417: Is unlikely that there will be another doubling of the global population in the 21st century. The total number of humans who have ever lived is estimated to be approximately 100 billion . Such estimates can only be rough approximations, as even modern population estimates are subject to uncertainty of around 3% to 5%. Kapitsa (1996) cites estimates ranging between 80 and 150 billion. The PRB puts
4485-547: The Great Famine of 1315–1317 and the end of the Black Death in 1350, when it was nearly 370,000,000. The highest global population growth rates , with increases of over 1.8% per year, occurred between 1955 and 1975, peaking at 2.1% between 1965 and 1970. The growth rate declined to 1.1% between 2015 and 2020 and is projected to decline further in the 21st century. The global population is still increasing, but there
4600-667: The Native American population of the New World died of Old World diseases such as smallpox , measles , and influenza . Over the centuries, the Europeans had developed high degrees of immunity to these diseases, while the indigenous peoples had no such immunity. During the European Agricultural and Industrial Revolutions , the life expectancy of children increased dramatically. The percentage of
4715-603: The Republic of Venice and the Republic of Genoa . In Northern Europe, cities including Lübeck and Bruges formed the Hanseatic League for collective defense and commerce. Their power was later challenged and eclipsed by the Dutch commercial cities of Ghent , Ypres , and Amsterdam . Similar phenomena existed elsewhere, as in the case of Sakai , which enjoyed considerable autonomy in late medieval Japan. In
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4830-947: The United Nations ... largely for the purpose of international statistical comparison". The word city and the related civilization come from the Latin root civitas , originally meaning 'citizenship' or 'community member' and eventually coming to correspond with urbs , meaning 'city' in a more physical sense. The Roman civitas was closely linked with the Greek polis —another common root appearing in English words such as metropolis . In toponymic terminology, names of individual cities and towns are called astionyms (from Ancient Greek ἄστυ 'city or town' and ὄνομα 'name'). Urban geography deals both with cities in their larger context and with their internal structure. Cities are estimated to cover about 3% of
4945-505: The Uruk period . In the fourth and third millennium BC , complex civilizations flourished in the river valleys of Mesopotamia , India , China , and Egypt . Excavations in these areas have found the ruins of cities geared variously towards trade, politics, or religion. Some had large, dense populations , but others carried out urban activities in the realms of politics or religion without having large associated populations. Among
5060-730: The civilization of Djenne-Djenno was likely established by the Mande progenitors of the Bozo people . Their habitation of the site spanned the period from 3rd century BCE to 13th century CE. Archaeological evidence from Jenné-Jeno, specifically the presence of non-West African glass beads dated from the third century BCE to the fourth century CE, indicates that pre-Arabic trade contacts probably existed between Jenné-Jeno and North Africa. Additionally, other early urban centers in West Africa, dated to around 500 CE, include Awdaghust , Kumbi Saleh ,
5175-678: The commune ( in France and Chile ; or comune in Italy). World population In world demographics , the world population is the total number of humans currently alive. It was estimated by the United Nations to have exceeded eight billion in mid-November 2022. It took around 300,000 years of human prehistory and history for the human population to reach a billion and only 218 years more to reach 8 billion. The human population has experienced continuous growth following
5290-703: The developing world have experienced extremely rapid population growth since the early 20th century, due to economic development and improvements in public health. China's population rose from approximately 430 million in 1850 to 580 million in 1953, and now stands at over 1.3 billion. The population of the Indian subcontinent , which was about 125 million in 1750, increased to 389 million in 1941; today, India, Pakistan and Bangladesh are collectively home to about 1.63 billion people. Java , an island in Indonesia , had about 5 million inhabitants in 1815; it had
5405-619: The end of the Han dynasty . From 200 to 400, the world population fell from an estimated 257 million to 206 million, with China suffering the greatest loss. At the founding of the Ming dynasty in 1368, China's population was reported to be close to 60 million; toward the end of the dynasty in 1644, it may have approached 150 million. England's population reached an estimated 5.6 million in 1650, up from an estimated 2.6 million in 1500. New crops that were brought to Asia and Europe from
5520-427: The government workers . (This arrangement contrasts with the more typically horizontal relationships in a tribe or village accomplishing common goals through informal agreements between neighbors, or the leadership of a chief.) The governments may be based on heredity, religion, military power, work systems such as canal-building, food distribution, land-ownership, agriculture, commerce, manufacturing, finance, or
5635-538: The knowledge economy . A new smart city paradigm, supported by institutions such as the RAND Corporation and IBM , is bringing computerized surveillance , data analysis, and governance to bear on cities and city dwellers. Some companies are building brand-new master-planned cities from scratch on greenfield sites. Urbanization is the process of migration from rural to urban areas, driven by various political, economic, and cultural factors. Until
5750-564: The service economy and public-private partnerships , with concomitant gentrification , uneven revitalization efforts , and selective cultural development. Under the Great Leap Forward and subsequent five-year plans continuing today, China has undergone concomitant urbanization and industrialization and become the world's leading manufacturer . Amidst these economic changes, high technology and instantaneous telecommunication enable select cities to become centers of
5865-535: The " Global North " remain more urbanized than the less developed countries of the " Global South "—but the difference continues to shrink because urbanization is happening faster in the latter group. Asia is home to by far the greatest absolute number of city-dwellers: over two billion and counting. The UN predicts an additional 2.5 billion city dwellers (and 300 million fewer country dwellers) worldwide by 2050, with 90% of urban population expansion occurring in Asia and Africa. Megacities , cities with populations in
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#17328009393895980-539: The "functional definition", a city is not distinguished by size alone, but also by the role it plays within a larger political context. Cities serve as administrative, commercial, religious, and cultural hubs for their larger surrounding areas. The presence of a literate elite is often associated with cities because of the cultural diversities present in a city. A typical city has professional administrators , regulations, and some form of taxation (food and other necessities or means to trade for them) to support
6095-532: The 18th century), Ile-Ifẹ̀ (70,000 to 105,000 inhabitants in the 14th and 15th centuries), Niani (50,000 inhabitants in 1400 AD) and Timbuktu (100,000 inhabitants in 1450 AD). In the West, nation-states became the dominant unit of political organization following the Peace of Westphalia in the seventeenth century. Western Europe's larger capitals (London and Paris) benefited from the growth of commerce following
6210-420: The 18th century, an equilibrium existed between the rural agricultural population and towns featuring markets and small-scale manufacturing. With the agricultural and industrial revolutions urban population began its unprecedented growth, both through migration and demographic expansion . In England , the proportion of the population living in cities jumped from 17% in 1801 to 72% in 1891. In 1900, 15% of
6325-480: The 1920s and 2000s, Kenya's population grew from 2.9 million to 37 million. The UN estimated that the world population reached one billion for the first time in 1804. It was another 123 years before it reached two billion in 1927, but it took only 33 years to reach three billion in 1960. Thereafter, it took 14 years for the global population to reach four billion in 1974, 13 years to reach five billion in 1987, 12 years to reach six billion in 1999 and, according to
6440-616: The 20th century in Imperial Russia and the Soviet Union was marked by a succession of major wars, famines and other disasters which caused large-scale population losses (approximately 60 million excess deaths). After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia's population declined significantly – from 150 million in 1991 to 143 million in 2012 – but by 2013 this decline appeared to have halted. Many countries in
6555-718: The 30th and 18th centuries BC. Mesoamerica saw the rise of early urbanism in several cultural regions, beginning with the Olmec and spreading to the Preclassic Maya , the Zapotec of Oaxaca, and Teotihuacan in central Mexico. Later cultures such as the Aztec , Andean civilizations , Mayan , Mississippians , and Pueblo peoples drew on these earlier urban traditions. Many of their ancient cities continue to be inhabited, including major metropolitan cities such as Mexico City , in
6670-750: The 9th through the end of the 12th century, Constantinople , the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire , was the largest and wealthiest city in Europe, with a population approaching 1 million. The Ottoman Empire gradually gained control over many cities in the Mediterranean area, including Constantinople in 1453 . In the Holy Roman Empire , beginning in the 12th century, free imperial cities such as Nuremberg , Strasbourg , Frankfurt , Basel , Zürich , and Nijmegen became
6785-473: The Americas by Portuguese and Spanish colonists in the 16th century are believed to have contributed to population growth. Since their introduction to Africa by Portuguese traders in the 16th century, maize and cassava have similarly replaced traditional African crops as the most important staple food crops grown on the continent. The pre-Columbian population of the Americas is uncertain; historian David Henige called it "the most unanswerable question in
6900-566: The Andes, the first urban centers developed in the Norte Chico civilization , Chavin and Moche cultures, followed by major cities in the Huari , Chimu , and Inca cultures. The Norte Chico civilization included as many as 30 major population centers in what is now the Norte Chico region of north-central coastal Peru . It is the oldest known civilization in the Americas, flourishing between
7015-529: The Great founded and created them with zeal. Jericho and Çatalhöyük , dated to the eighth millennium BC , are among the earliest proto-cities known to archaeologists. However, the Mesopotamian city of Uruk from the mid-fourth millennium BC (ancient Iraq) is considered by most archaeologists to be the first true city, innovating many characteristics for cities to follow, with its name attributed to
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#17328009393897130-588: The UN estimates gives the "medium variant" population as; nearly 8.6 billion in 2030, about 9.7 billion in 2050 and about 10.9 billion in 2100. In December 2019, the German Foundation for World Population projected that the global population will reach 8 billion by 2023 as it increases by 156 every minute. In a modeled future projection by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation ,
7245-480: The USCB asserted that this occurred in March 2012. Since 1951, the UN has issued multiple projections of future world population, based on different assumptions. From 2000 to 2005, the UN consistently revised these projections downward, until the 2006 revision, issued on 14 March 2007, revised the 2050 mid-range estimate upwards by 273 million. Complicating the UN's and others' attempts to project future populations
7360-469: The United Nations reported that the rate of population growth continues to decline due to the ongoing global demographic transition. If this trend continues, the rate of growth may diminish to zero by 2100, concurrent with a world population plateau of 10.9 billion. However, this is only one of many estimates published by the UN; in 2009, UN population projections for 2050 ranged between around 8 billion and 10.5 billion. An alternative scenario
7475-568: The United States Census Bureau placed them in July 1959 and April 1974 respectively. The United Nations did determine, and commemorate, the "Day of 5 Billion" on 11 July 1987, and the "Day of 6 Billion" on 12 October 1999. The Population Division of the United Nations declared the " Day of Seven Billion " to be 31 October 2011. The United Nations marked the birth of the eight billionth person on 15 November 2022. As of 2020,
7590-583: The United States Census Bureau, 13 years to reach seven billion in March 2012. The United Nations, however, estimated that the world population reached seven billion in October 2011. According to the UN, the global population reached eight billion in November 2022, but because the growth rate is slowing, it will take another 15 years to reach around 9 billion by 2037 and 20 years to reach 10 billion by 2057. Alternative scenarios for 2050 range from
7705-428: The age of 18 living with them, 55.4% were married couples living together, 10.7% had a female householder with no husband present, 4.1% had a male householder with no wife present, and 29.8% were non-families. 27.3% of all households were made up of individuals, and 18.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.31 and the average family size was 2.78. The median age in
7820-536: The ancient capital of Ghana, and Maranda , a center located on a trade route between Egypt and Gao. The dissolution of the Roman Empire in the West was connected with profound changes in urban fabric of western Europe. In places where Roman administration quickly weakened urbanism went through a profound crisis, even if it continued to remain an important symbolic factor. In regions like Italy or Spain cities diminished in size but nevertheless continued to play
7935-464: The athletic, artistic, spiritual, and political life of the polis. Rome was the first city that surpassed one million inhabitants. Under the authority of its empire , Rome transformed and founded many cities ( Colonia ), and with them brought its principles of urban architecture, design, and society. In the ancient Americas , early urban traditions developed in the Andes and Mesoamerica . In
8050-407: The benefit of mitigating the urban heat island effect, especially in cities that are in warmer climates. These spaces prevent carbon imbalances, extreme habitat losses, electricity and water consumption, and human health risks. The urban structure generally follows one or more basic patterns: geomorphic, radial, concentric, rectilinear, and curvilinear. The physical environment generally constrains
8165-512: The carrying capacity → faster population growth → accelerating growth of the number of potential inventors → faster technological advance → hence, the faster growth of the Earth's carrying capacity for people, and so on. The transition from hyperbolic growth to slower rates of growth is related to the demographic transition. According to the Russian demographer Sergey Kapitsa , the world population grew between 67,000 BC and 1965 according to
8280-508: The children born in London who died before the age of five decreased from 74.5% in 1730–1749 to 31.8% in 1810–1829. Between 1700 and 1900, Europe's population increased from about 100 million to over 400 million. Altogether, the areas populated by people of European descent comprised 36% of the world's population in 1900. Population growth in the Western world became more rapid after
8395-553: The city was 42.7 years. 22.1% of residents were under the age of 18; 5.4% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 27.4% were from 25 to 44; 19.7% were from 45 to 64; and 25.4% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was 48.9% male and 51.1% female. As of the census of 2000, there were 220 people, 104 households, and 61 families living in the city. The population density was 562.2 inhabitants per square mile (217.1/km). There were 118 housing units at an average density of 301.6 per square mile (116.4/km). The racial makeup of
8510-473: The city was 95.91% White , 0.45% Native American , and 3.64% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.36% of the population. There were 104 households, out of which 25.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 48.1% were married couples living together, 8.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 40.4% were non-families. 40.4% of all households were made up of individuals, and 25.0% had someone living alone who
8625-420: The city. The population density was 717.9 inhabitants per square mile (277.2/km). There were 132 housing units at an average density of 338.5 per square mile (130.7/km). The racial makeup of the city was 98.9% White , 0.4% African American , 0.4% Asian , and 0.4% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.7% of the population. There were 121 households, of which 31.4% had children under
8740-542: The early Old World cities, Mohenjo-daro of the Indus Valley civilization in present-day Pakistan , existing from about 2600 BC, was one of the largest, with a population of 50,000 or more and a sophisticated sanitation system . China's planned cities were constructed according to sacred principles to act as celestial microcosms . The Ancient Egyptian cities known physically by archaeologists are not extensive. They include (known by their Arab names) El Lahun ,
8855-671: The efficiency of transportation and the smaller land consumption , dense cities hold the potential to have a smaller ecological footprint per inhabitant than more sparsely populated areas. Therefore, compact cities are often referred to as a crucial element in fighting climate change. However, this concentration can also have some significant negative consequences, such as forming urban heat islands , concentrating pollution , and stressing water supplies and other resources. A city can be distinguished from other human settlements by its relatively great size, but also by its functions and its special symbolic status , which may be conferred by
8970-484: The emergence of an Atlantic trade. However, most towns remained small. During the Spanish colonization of the Americas, the old Roman city concept was extensively used. Cities were founded in the middle of the newly conquered territories and were bound to several laws regarding administration, finances, and urbanism. The growth of the modern industry from the late 18th century onward led to massive urbanization and
9085-483: The figure at 117 billion as of 2020, estimating that the current world population is 6.7% of all the humans who have ever lived. Haub (1995) prepared another figure, updated in 2002 and 2011; the 2011 figure was approximately 107 billion. Haub characterized this figure as an estimate that required "selecting population sizes for different points from antiquity to the present and applying assumed birth rates to each period". Robust population data only exist for
9200-514: The first half of the 19th century, at 600 million to 1 billion in the early 1800s and 800 million to 1 billion in the 1840s. It is difficult for estimates to be better than rough approximations, as even current population estimates are fraught with uncertainties from 3% to 5%. Estimates of the population of the world at the time agriculture emerged in around 10,000 BC have ranged between 1 million and 15 million. Even earlier, genetic evidence suggests humans may have gone through
9315-812: The first millennium AD, the Khmer capital of Angkor in Cambodia grew into the most extensive preindustrial settlement in the world by area, covering over 1,000 km and possibly supporting up to one million people. West Africa already had cities before the Common Era , but the consolidation of Trans-Saharan trade in the Middle Ages multiplied the number of cities in the region, as well as making some of them very populous, notably Gao (72,000 inhabitants in 800 AD), Oyo-Ile (50,000 inhabitants in 1400 AD, and may have reached up to 140,000 inhabitants in
9430-418: The following formula: where According to linear interpolation and extrapolation of UNDESA population estimates , the world population has doubled, or will double, in the years listed in the tables below (with two different starting points). During the 2nd millennium , each doubling took roughly half as long as the previous doubling, fitting the hyperbolic growth model mentioned above. However, after 2024, it
9545-440: The form in which a city is built. If located on a mountainside, urban structures may rely on terraces and winding roads. It may be adapted to its means of subsistence (e.g. agriculture or fishing). And it may be set up for optimal defense given the surrounding landscape. Beyond these "geomorphic" features, cities can develop internal patterns, due to natural growth or to city planning . In a radial structure, main roads converge on
9660-460: The global fertility rate was estimated at 2.44 children per woman. In June 2012, British researchers calculated the total weight of Earth's human population as approximately 287 million tonnes (630 billion pounds), with the average person weighing around 62 kilograms (137 lb). The IMF estimated nominal 2021 gross world product at US$ 94.94 trillion, giving an annual global per capita figure of around US$ 12,290. Around 9.3% of
9775-587: The global sex ratio is approximately 1.01 males to 1 female. Approximately 24.7% of the global population is aged under 15, while 65.2% is aged 15–64 and 10.1% is aged 65 or over. The median age of the world's population is estimated to be 31 years in 2020, and is expected to rise to 37.9 years by 2050. According to the World Health Organization , the global average life expectancy is 73.3 years as of 2020, with women living an average of 75.9 years and men approximately 70.8 years. In 2010,
9890-490: The global population was projected to peak in 2064 at 9.73 billion people and decline to 8.79 billion in 2100. Some analysts have questioned the sustainability of further world population growth, highlighting the growing pressures on the environment , global food supplies, and energy resources. In 1975, Sebastian von Hoerner proposed a formula for population growth which represented hyperbolic growth with an infinite population in 2025. The hyperbolic growth of
10005-507: The introduction of vaccination and other improvements in medicine and sanitation . Improved material conditions led to the population of Britain increasing from 10 million to 40 million in the 19th century. The population of the United Kingdom reached 60 million in 2006. The United States saw its population grow from around 5.3 million in 1800 to 106 million in 1920, exceeding 307 million in 2010. The first half of
10120-420: The land surface of the Earth. Town siting has varied through history according to natural, technological, economic, and military contexts. Access to water has long been a major factor in city placement and growth, and despite exceptions enabled by the advent of rail transport in the nineteenth century, through the present most of the world's urban population lives near the coast or on a river. Urban areas as
10235-670: The last two or three centuries. Until the late 18th century, few governments had ever performed an accurate census. In many early attempts, such as in Ancient Egypt and the Persian Empire , the focus was on counting merely a subset of the population for purposes of taxation or military service. Thus, there is a significant margin of error when estimating ancient global populations. Pre-modern infant mortality rates are another critical factor for such an estimate; these rates are very difficult to estimate for ancient times due to
10350-486: The lessening of the mortality rate in many countries by improved sanitation and medical advances , and a massive increase in agricultural productivity attributed to the Green Revolution . By 2000, there were approximately ten times as many people on Earth as there had been in 1700. However, this rapid growth did not last. During the period 2000–2005, the United Nations estimates that the world's population
10465-425: The long-standing trend on all inhabited continents, as well as in most individual states. During the 20th century, the global population saw its greatest increase in known history, rising from about 1.6 billion in 1900 to over 6 billion in 2000 as the whole world entered the early phases of what has come to be called the " demographic transition ". Some of the key factors contributing to this increase included
10580-475: The longest continual inhabitation . Cities, characterized by population density , symbolic function, and urban planning , have existed for thousands of years. In the conventional view, civilization and the city were both followed by the development of agriculture , which enabled the production of surplus food and thus a social division of labor (with concomitant social stratification ) and trade . Early cities often featured granaries , sometimes within
10695-497: The multi-millions, have proliferated into the dozens, arising especially in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Economic globalization fuels the growth of these cities, as new torrents of foreign capital arrange for rapid industrialization, as well as the relocation of major businesses from Europe and North America, attracting immigrants from near and far. A deep gulf divides the rich and poor in these cities, which usually contain
10810-491: The number of people who have ever lived will rise to 121 billion by 2050, 4 billion more than their 2021 estimate. Individuals from a wide range of academic fields and political backgrounds have proposed that, like all other animal populations, any human population (and, by extension, the world population) predictably grows and shrinks according to available food supply, growing during an abundance of food and shrinking in times of scarcity. This idea may run counter to
10925-513: The past. The data for 1750 to 1900 are from the UN report "The World at Six Billion" whereas the data from 1950 to 2015 are from a UN data sheet. Using the above figures, the change in population from 2010 to 2015 was: Long-term global population growth is difficult to predict. The United Nations and the US Census Bureau both give different estimates – according to the UN, the world population reached seven billion in late 2011, while
11040-443: The period 1950–55 the crude birth rate was 36.9/1,000 population and the crude death rate was 19.1/1,000. By the period 2015–20, both numbers had dropped significantly to 18.5/1,000 for the crude birth rate and 7.5/1,000 for the crude death rate. UN projections for 2100 show a further decline in the crude birth rate to 11.6/1,000 and an increase in the crude death rate to 11.2/1,000. The total number of births globally
11155-820: The popular thinking that, as population grows, food supply must also be increased to support the growing population; instead, the claim here is that growing population is the result of a growing food supply. Notable proponents of this notion include: agronomist and insect ecologist David Pimentel , behavioral scientist Russell Hopfenberg (the former two publishing a study on the topic in 2001), anthropologist and activist Virginia Abernethy , ecologist Garrett Hardin , science writer and anthropologist Peter Farb , journalist Richard Manning , environmental biologist Alan D. Thornhill, cultural critic and writer Daniel Quinn , and anarcho-primitivist John Zerzan . Scientists generally acknowledge that at least one significant factor contributing to population growth (or overpopulation)
11270-500: The public as well as forms of public land such as public domain and the commons . Western philosophy since the time of the Greek agora has considered physical public space as the substrate of the symbolic public sphere . Public art adorns (or disfigures) public spaces. Parks and other natural sites within cities provide residents with relief from the hardness and regularity of typical built environments . Urban green spaces are another component of public space that provides
11385-873: The rise of new great cities, first in Europe and then in other regions, as new opportunities brought huge numbers of migrants from rural communities into urban areas. England led the way as London became the capital of a world empire and cities across the country grew in locations strategic for manufacturing . In the United States from 1860 to 1910, the introduction of railroads reduced transportation costs, and large manufacturing centers began to emerge, fueling migration from rural to city areas. Some industrialized cities were confronted with health challenges associated with overcrowding , occupational hazards of industry, contaminated water and air, poor sanitation , and communicable diseases such as typhoid and cholera . Factories and slums emerged as regular features of
11500-698: The same location as Tenochtitlan ; while ancient continuously inhabited Pueblos are near modern urban areas in New Mexico , such as Acoma Pueblo near the Albuquerque metropolitan area and Taos Pueblo near Taos ; while others like Lima are located nearby ancient Peruvian sites such as Pachacamac . From 1600 BC, Dhar Tichitt , in the south of present-day Mauritania , presented characteristics suggestive of an incipient form of urbanism. The second place to show urban characteristics in West Africa
11615-435: The second half of the 21st century. The total number of births globally is currently (2015–2020) 140 million/year, which is projected to peak during the period 2040–2045 at 141 million/year and then decline slowly to 126 million/year by 2100. The total number of deaths is currently 57 million/year and is projected to grow steadily to 121 million/year by 2100. The median age of human beings as of 2020
11730-489: The term and has challenged geographers seeking to classify territories according to an urban-rural binary. Metropolitan areas include suburbs and exurbs organized around the needs of commuters , and sometimes edge cities characterized by a degree of economic and political independence. (In the US these are grouped into metropolitan statistical areas for purposes of demography and marketing .) Some cities are now part of
11845-412: The turn of the first millennium BC , encompassed numerous cities extending from Tyre , Cydon , and Byblos to Carthage and Cádiz . In the following centuries, independent city-states of Greece , especially Athens , developed the polis , an association of male landowning citizens who collectively constituted the city. The agora , meaning "gathering place" or "assembly", was the center of
11960-446: The urban landscape. In the second half of the 20th century, deindustrialization (or " economic restructuring ") in the West led to poverty , homelessness , and urban decay in formerly prosperous cities. America's "Steel Belt" became a " Rust Belt " and cities such as Detroit , Michigan, and Gary, Indiana began to shrink , contrary to the global trend of massive urban expansion. Such cities have shifted with varying success into
12075-589: The volume of sewage begins to exceed manageable levels. The local government of cities takes different forms including prominently the municipality (especially in England , in the United States , India , and other British colonies ; legally, the municipal corporation ; municipio in Spain and Portugal , and, along with municipalidad , in most former parts of the Spanish and Portuguese empires) and
12190-684: The world population live in extreme poverty , subsisting on less than US$ 1.9 per day; around 8.9% are malnourished . 87% of the world's over-15s are considered literate . As of January 2024, there were about 5 billion global Internet users, constituting 66% of the world population. The Han Chinese are the world's largest single ethnic group, constituting over 19% of the global population in 2011. The world's most-spoken languages are English (1.132B), Mandarin Chinese (1.117B), Hindi (615M), Spanish (534M) and French (280M). More than three billion people speak an Indo-European language, which
12305-420: The world population observed until the 1970s was later correlated to a non-linear second-order positive feedback between demographic growth and technological development. This feedback can be described as follows: technological advance → increase in the carrying capacity of land for people → demographic growth → more people → more potential inventors → acceleration of technological advance → accelerating growth of
12420-613: The world's population as of 2020,while the Latin American and Caribbean regions are home to around 653 million (8%). Northern America, primarily consisting of the United States and Canada, has a population of around 368 million (5%), and Oceania, the least populated region, has about 42 million inhabitants (0.5%). Antarctica only has a very small, fluctuating population of about 1200 people based mainly in polar science stations . Approximately 4.6 billion people live in these ten countries, representing around 57% of
12535-531: The world's population as of July 2023. The UN estimates that by 2023 India will have overtaken China in having the largest population. The tables below list the world's most densely populated countries, both in absolute terms and in comparison to their total populations, as of November 2022. All areas and populations are from The World Factbook , unless otherwise noted. [REDACTED] Palestine Population size fluctuates at differing rates in differing regions. Nonetheless, population growth has been
12650-523: The world's population lived in cities. The cultural appeal of cities also plays a role in attracting residents. Urbanization rapidly spread across Europe and the Americas and since the 1950s has taken hold in Asia and Africa as well. The Population Division of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs reported in 2014 that for the first time, more than half of the world population lives in cities. Latin America
12765-411: The world." By the end of the 20th century, scholarly consensus favored an estimate of roughly 55 million people, but numbers from various sources have ranged from 10 million to 100 million. Encounters between European explorers and populations in the rest of the world often introduced local epidemics of extraordinary virulence. According to the most extreme scholarly claims, as many as 90% of
12880-543: Was Dia , in present-day Mali , from 800 BC. Both Dhar Tichitt and Dia were founded by the same people: the Soninke , who would later also found the Ghana Empire . Another ancient site, Jenné-Jeno , in what is today Mali , has been dated to the third century BCE. According to Roderick and Susan McIntosh, Jenné-Jeno did not fit into traditional Western conceptions of urbanity as it lacked monumental architecture and
12995-448: Was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.12 and the average family size was 2.82. In the city the population was spread out, with 24.5% under the age of 18, 5.5% from 18 to 24, 23.2% from 25 to 44, 22.7% from 45 to 64, and 24.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 43 years. For every 100 females, there were 89.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 78.5 males. The median income for
13110-508: Was growing at an annual rate of 1.3% (equivalent to around 80 million people), down from a peak of 2.1% during the period 1965–1970. Globally, although the population growth rate has been steadily declining from its peak in 1968, growth still remains high in Sub-Saharan Africa . In fact, during the 2010s, Japan and some countries in Europe began to reduce in population , due to sub-replacement fertility rates. In 2019,
13225-422: Was more than 70 million in 1340. From 1340 to 1400, the world's population fell from an estimated 443 million to 350–375 million, with the Indian subcontinent suffering the most tremendous loss and Europe suffering the Black Death pandemic ; it took 200 years for European population figures to recover. The population of China decreased from 123 million in 1200 to 65 million in 1393, presumably from
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