Talk:World population

Template:WP1.0

That graph must be wrong?

On top right corner of the article there is a graph projecting lower population growth and "worst case", only linear growth. If you look at the historical part of the graph, it show accelerated growth. What has happened in last 20 years to remove the possibility to further acceleration/steeper slope of growth? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2001:14B8:100:2A9:0:0:0:2 (talk) 08:30, 28 November 2013 (UTC)

Haub's "40%" claim needs removed

This part is inaccurate: "His estimates for infant mortality suggest that around 40% of those who have ever lived did not survive beyond their first birthday."

The article mentions infant mortality, but the numbers are only representative of one time period (a very generic time period at that)

"Infant mortality in the human race’s earliest days is thought to have been very high—perhaps 500 infant deaths per 1,000 births, or even higher. Children were probably an economic liability among hunter-gatherer societies, a fact that is likely to have led to the practice of infanticide."

Using that as a basis for the 40% claim is wrong.

It's also important to note that the he says this in reference to the idea of projecting the number of people who have 'ever lived':

"Any such exercise can be only a highly speculative enterprise, to be undertaken with far less seriousness than most demographic inquiries."

New data

Added data for 2010 and 2012 taken from http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/statistics_explained/images/9/97/World_population%2C_1960-2012.png, itself taken from http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/statistics_explained/index.php/European_population_compared_with_world_population.

The table seems too long now. Whoever may wish may delete at will or add the source, as I don't know how to do that. Azubarev2 (talk) 18:49, 11 November 2013 (UTC)Azubarev2

Peak oil collapse sources

I noticed a few days ago that material had been added to the article which had been taken from the peak oil/collapse movement. For those unfamiliar, the peak oil/collapse movement is a fringe movement which claimed repeatedly that industrial civilization would collapse suddenly because of peak oil, first in 2006 and then every few years since then.

The peal oil/collapse ideology is a fringe crackpot body of theories. It is not a scientific body of theory. It is not supported by relevant experts.

I often keep up on fringe/doomsday/collapse movements, out of curiosity. I've been following the peak oil/collapse movement for about 6 years now. It is my third doomsday/collapse group.

When I saw those ideas being promoted on wikipedia, I felt it violated WP:Fringe and I removed the material. Especially the sources entitled "4 Billion Deaths!" which predicted an imminent population die-off back in the late-2000s, and Richard Duncan's "Olduvai Gorge" theory, in which he claimed that industrial civilization would collapse and there would be permanent electrical blackouts worldwide circa 2008.

Now I notice that someone has re-added some of the material. However, the material now has a reference to a more credible-sounding source. The material now has a reference to a study written by an officer in the German Army. The study is reported in the German magazine, Spiegel.

Nevertheless, I still believe that the material is crackpot pseudoscience and should not be allowed here. The study extensively relies upon crackpot or unreliable sources of information such as The Oil Drum (a website), Richard Heinberg, and other sources which are not serious. The "study" is not a study in the scientific sense, but a whitepaper by a non-expert which relies upon crackpot sources for information. I realize it might have some imprimatur of credibility to have someone within the German army writing these things. However I don't believe that's enough for it to be considered a reliable source. It appears that the German officer who wrote the "study" and the author of Spiegel article, have both been duped by a crackpot pseudscientific doomsday group. I think this material is unsuitable according to WP:Fringe and should be removed, or at least presented as a fringe or discredited view.

I don't wish to start an edit war about this, but I do wish to solicit opinions and argumentation here about whether the material and source should be allowed. If there is no consensus gained here then I will refer the matter to the WP:Fringe noticeboard.

Thanks, Pthbbb (talk) 02:14, 12 November 2013 (UTC)

Peak oil is a fact, at some point the peak in production of oil must occur since it is a finite resource. --- Tobby72 (talk) 16:06, 12 November 2013 (UTC)

That's not the point. The referenced source claims more than just "oil is finite". The referenced source, also claims that there are severe, near-term threats to civilization and the food supply. For example, on pages 58 and 59 of that document: "the global economic system and all market-oriented economies would collapse... Collapse of critical infrastructures... Famines...". Those claims are not supported by any serious scientific work, and are supported only by crackpot sources with a long history of failed doomsday predictions. Therefore, those claims not allowed according to WP:Fringe, even if oil is finite.Pthbbb (talk) 23:14, 12 November 2013 (UTC)

7.4 needs rewrite

This section is a really weak part of this topic. Lots of grammatical errors. The claim "some scientists and others..." is backed up only by an opinion piece in the NYT? The rest of the section cites 2 right wing magazine articles (themselves without citations) and an unrelated piece in Scientific American. There is legitimate debate about where the population limit lies, but this is a horrible representation of it. I would suggest this section be removed until it can be written properly. Jaydub99 (talk) 19:16, 27 January 2014 (UTC)

Population clock update needed

The population clock at the start of the page is currently about 3.5 million off of the estimate that the source gives. Anyone know how to correctly update the templates? --Yair rand (talk) 23:43, 4 February 2014 (UTC)

Requested move

World population → World human population – Present title is generic, does not state the actual topic of the article. Also: section in Population article is "World human population" not "World population" 109.54.16.225 (talk) 21:36, 28 May 2014 (UTC)--109.54.16.225 (talk) 21:36, 28 May 2014 (UTC)