Land surface area of earth = approx. 148,000,000 km^2
Current human population = approx. 6,500,000,000

For discussion's sake, let's hypothesise that approx. 1/30 (one thirtieth) of the land surface area was set aside for people's living areas. I chose 1/30 simply because I thought it would quite likely take account of space needed for other species, areas for transport, industrial areas etc.. (chose 1/50 or another figure if you want).

I could have gone wrong somewhere in my calculations, but as far as I can tell, that would leave us with approx. 6.5 billion people living on approx. 5 million km^2. This would mean approx. 770 m^2 squared per person. That's a considerable amount of space! If the area were square, it would equal approx. 28 metres by 28 metres. You could even grow the food you need on that!
Let's further hypothesize....

Suppose the population increases to 10 billion.... actually... let's say even 12 billion. 12 billion people living on approx. 5 million km^2 would mean approx. 415 m^2 per person. Again... for an area of square shape this would mean just over 20 metres by 20 metres.

My point is... I think the alerts about the global population putting strains on our planet are perhaps unfounded. Unless I have seriously messed up somewhere in these (rather easy, i confess) calculations, I believe is there is plenty of space for everyone.

...Hold off on the vasectomy! And whatever you do, don't commit suicide because someone who is seriously misled tells you there are too many people on the planet!

Opinions please!

Lets not forget farm land, islands and uninhabitable areas.

This calculation would be true, but you also need to take into affect the differnt climates and weather and seasonal patterns. Plus the fact that North Americans waste alot of food.

Yes, as well as recreational areas etc.. A more realistic figure could be 1/50th (one fiftieth); then again, maybe 1/20th is available. The methods one would use to calculate would be largely arbitrary as far as I can tell.
The things is: people that try to tell others that there is a problem with the global population don't even try to estimate, as far as I know. It just seems to me that, when looked at rationally, there isn't necessarily a problem at all.

No one else think this is good news, no? :rolleyes:

Of course! But then I didnt worry too much in the first place ;)

As A CAnadian said, theres farmland ot take into consideration. Once you do that, the figures become very unrosy indeed. Unfortunately its years since i last saw any figures on farmland availability across the globe, you'd probably need to go to a proper library for textbooks.
The point though is that if you assume no rgeat advances in technology, large pasts of teh globe are already overcrowded, if you take a somewhat more jaundiced view of big cities than some do. London for example is overcrowded.

Then there is the difficulty of building houses on steep slopes. I live in Scotland, and probably over 60% of our land mass is effectively uncultivateable and impossible to build or live on. This leaves not a lot else for other things. The net result is that we could stand a great deal more people, if they like living in blocks of flats 20 storeys high, with high populaiton density. But not that many do, and it would require massive building programs and resources.

So to sum it all up, there is stuff to worry about, just not enough to lose any sleep over it. (unless its your job)