Ninety percent of the population increase in the developing world is in urban areas, which will triple in population by 2025 from the late 1990s.
In the image at the left, you can see the island of Manhattan in the center of New York City, the population of which has been growing since its founding more than three centuries ago. This image was taken by the MODIS Airborne Simulator (MAS) on July 18, 1993.
According to Census Bureau data, as of 1990 the population of New York City was 7.3 million people.
________________
ΓÇ£The number of people who inhabit the Earth has grown from perhaps 10 million, at the close of the last great Ice AgeΓÇô10,000 years agoΓÇôto an estimated 5 billion today: a phenomenon, in terms of global consequence, that overshadows almost anything that has ever happened to the planet.
ΓÇ£With population growth comes a greater need for housing, energy, food, water, etc., which places huge demand on our natural resources. This could threaten the well-being of the Earth that has served us so well.ΓÇ¥ *
* Human Dimensions Quarterly, Vol.1, No. 1, Winter 1994
