ABSTRACT

Today, the two most populous countries, China and India, have, between them, more inhabitants than the whole world had in 1930. Both countries are in Asia, which, for countless centuries, has always contained more than half of humanity. Together, Asia, Africa and Latin America now contain almost five-sixths; and that proportion is still rising, because many countries in those regions have relatively high rates of population growth. By contrast, rates of natural growth are generally low in European countries, and in some of them growth has stopped, although immigration may keep the population figures rising.