The world’s population exceeds 8 billion people

The United Nations Population Division estimates that yesterday the world’s population crossed the threshold of eight billion people. And the UN Secretary-General considered that crossing this symbolic threshold is “an opportunity to celebrate diversity and development, taking into account the common responsibility of humanity to the planet.” There are fears that the population of the planet will deplete the resources of the Earth, especially in light of the richest consumption of available resources. The United Nations attributes population growth to human development as people live longer thanks to improvements in public health, nutrition, personal hygiene and medicines. It is also the result of high birth rates, especially in the world’s poorest countries, most of which are in sub-Saharan Africa, which jeopardizes the achievement of development goals. Population growth exacerbated the environmental impact of economic development. But while some fear that a population of eight billion will exceed the planet’s capacity, most experts point out that the biggest problem is the overconsumption of resources by the richest people.