Year
1977
Degree Name
Master of Science
Recommended Citation
Masters, N., On the cumulative human population of the earth, Master of Science thesis, , University of Wollongong, 1977. https://ro.uow.edu.au/theses/2730
Abstract
The study of human population growth has been a field of active research for many years. While a great amount of this research has been to project future population patterns, this study is concerned rather with describing and quantifying populations which have or do exist in order to answer the much asked question - "how many people have ever lived?". Firstly, the relevant history of man from when he first walked the earth until the present is studied in an attempt to estimate, as reliably as possible, the population size at different points in man's development. These estimates closely resemble those of Carr-Saunders, Willcox and the United Nations from 1650 to the present, but prior to this are different from previous studies. Models have been constructed to simulate the trends discovered in the above estimates and are discussed in the categories of: preagricultural, agricultural and industrial societies. From these models, the cumulative population of each period has been calculated.
Unless otherwise indicated, the views expressed in this thesis are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of the University of Wollongong.