ABSTRACT
In 1985, Africa and Europe were approximately the same size in population; by 2025, Africa’s population will be three times larger than that of Europe. Nigeria alone will grow from being half the population size of the USA to being slightly larger. In the mid1980s, the Middle East dominated the ranks of states with the highest population growth rates: Oman, Libya, UAE, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, and Iran were all in the top ten. Dramatic increases such as these, together with the shifting relationships within the global population balance, form the backdrop to many of the environmental themes in this atlas.
