Question

What parameter indicates that the size of the human population is increasing?

a) The time needed to add 1 billion people is increasing.
b) The time needed to add 1 billion people is staying the same.
c) The time needed to add 1 billion people is decreasing.
d) The time needed to add 1 billion people has nothing to do with population growth.

Answer 1

The time needed to add 1 billion people is decreasing, indicating an increasing human population size.

Step-by-step explanation:

A consequence of exponential human population growth is a reduction in time that it takes to add a particular number of humans to the Earth. For example, Figure 36.16 shows that it took 123 years to add 1 billion humans in 1930, but only 24 years to add two billion people between 1975 and 1999.

This indicates that the time needed to add 1 billion people is decreasing. As human population continues to grow, the time needed to add each billion humans to the Earth is becoming shorter, which is a parameter indicating that the size of the human population is increasing.