The eight billion

Narration

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1. 0:00How fast is the world's population really growing? Count it in billions.
2. 0:08For almost all of history, the number stayed small. It took humanity until eighteen oh four to reach one billion people.
3. 0:15The second billion took one hundred and twenty three years, arriving in nineteen twenty seven.
4. 0:21The third took only thirty three years, in nineteen sixty.
5. 0:24Then fourteen years for the fourth, and thirteen for the fifth.
6. 0:28The sixth and the seventh each took twelve years.
7. 0:31The eighth billion took eleven years, and arrived in November twenty twenty two.
8. 0:36So the wait for each billion has shrunk from one hundred and twenty three years to about a decade.
9. 0:41The world did not just get bigger. It got bigger faster, again and again.
10. 0:47But the United Nations projects the ninth billion in twenty thirty seven, a gap of fifteen years.
11. 0:56A slower pace does not mean fewer people: the total keeps rising for decades.
12. 1:01After that, growth keeps slowing, and the total is expected to peak later this century.
13. 1:10Fewer children per family, and longer lives, are changing how the numbers add up.
14. 1:15The sprint is ending.