The increasing number of people on Earth is one of the greatest factors in global warming

More means that more fossil fuels are burned. This has led to a massive rise in the  levels of greenhouse gases in Earth’s atmosphere.

China More than 100,000 babies are born in Beijing, China, every year. The population of China is about 1.3 billion people, more than four times greater than the United States.

Russia Russia is the most populated country in Europe. Moscow, its capital, is Europe’s largest city.

Bangladesh A traffic jam clogs the streets of Dhaka in Bangladesh—the seventh most populated country on Earth.

United States A thick cloud of smog hangs over Los Angeles, California, where the population is almost k million.

Brazil More than 6 million people live Rio de Janeiro. Almost a million of them live in slum: 

Swelling numbers

The world’s population is growing by 80 million people a year, but it is not spread out evenly. Most growth is happening in cities—especially in Asia. 

New York The United States has far fewer people than either China or India, but produces more greenhouse gases than any other country on Earth. This is because people in developed countries, such as the United States, use much more energy than those in less developed countries, such as China or India.

Past, present, and future

In the past 200 years, the world’s population rocketed from around a billion to more than 6.7 billion. By 2050, it is predicted that there will be more than 9 billion people on Earth, mostly living in Asia and Africa.

City life

It is not just that there are more people than ever before, it is how we choose to live that puts a strain on our planet. Life in large cities is comfortable and convenient, but the energy this lifestyle requires has a high environmental cost.

Big burner The energy for most cities come: from power stations that burn fossil fuels to make electricity.

Bright lights, big city

More than half the world’s people live in cities. As cities grow they require more and more power.

Home and business Heating, lighting, and air-conditioning in homes and businesses create a lot of greenhousegases. Together, buildings account for almost 30 percent  of all CO₂ released by cities, with around 70 percent of this coming from our houses and apartments.

Building problem Growing city populations need places to live, work, and shop. Construction work and making concrete release tons of C02 even before the buildings are complete.

High polluters Airplanes dump huge amounts of CO₂ into the atmosphere.

Eating into forests As cities grow, trees and fields are cleared to create more land for building.

Industry People living in cities use huge amounts of power, food, water, and manufactured products. All of this has to come from somewhere. Power stations, factories, and processing plants create almost half of all our greenhouse gases.

The big three

Almost all man-made CO₂ emissions come from three areas of modern living-transportation, housing, and industry. In comparison, farming produces just 4. percent of emissions.

 Transportation People in cities need cars and buses to get around, and businesses need trucks to shift goods. These fuel-hungry vehicles create more than 70 percent of CO2 transportation emissions. The rest is from trains and airplanes.