Until the 1800s, population growth was incredibly slow on a global level. The global population was estimated to have been around 188 million people in the year 1CE, and did not reach one billion until around 1803. However, since the 1800s, a phenomenon known as the demographic transition has seen population growth skyrocket, reaching eight billion people in 2023, and this is expected to peak at over 10 billion in the 2080s.

description: The Anthropogenic Biomes of the World, Version 2: 2000 data set describes anthropogenic transformations within the terrestrial biosphere caused by sustained direct human interaction with ecosystems, including agriculture and urbanization c. 2000. Potential natural vegetation, biomes, such as tropical rainforests or grasslands, are based on global vegetation patterns related to climate and geology. Anthropogenic transformation within each biome is approximated using population density, agricultural intensity (cropland and pasture) and urbanization. This data set is part of a time series for the years 1700, 1800, 1900, and 2000 that provides global patterns of historical transformation of the terrestrial biosphere during the Industrial Revolution.; abstract: The Anthropogenic Biomes of the World, Version 2: 2000 data set describes anthropogenic transformations within the terrestrial biosphere caused by sustained direct human interaction with ecosystems, including agriculture and urbanization c. 2000. Potential natural vegetation, biomes, such as tropical rainforests or grasslands, are based on global vegetation patterns related to climate and geology. Anthropogenic transformation within each biome is approximated using population density, agricultural intensity (cropland and pasture) and urbanization. This data set is part of a time series for the years 1700, 1800, 1900, and 2000 that provides global patterns of historical transformation of the terrestrial biosphere during the Industrial Revolution.

The region of present-day China has historically been the most populous region in the world; however, its population development has fluctuated throughout history. In 2022, China was overtaken as the most populous country in the world, and current projections suggest its population is heading for a rapid decline in the coming decades. Transitions of power lead to mortality The source suggests that conflict, and the diseases brought with it, were the major obstacles to population growth throughout most of the Common Era, particularly during transitions of power between various dynasties and rulers. It estimates that the total population fell by approximately 30 million people during the 14th century due to the impact of Mongol invasions, which inflicted heavy losses on the northern population through conflict, enslavement, food instability, and the introduction of bubonic plague. Between 1850 and 1870, the total population fell once more, by more than 50 million people, through further conflict, famine and disease; the most notable of these was the Taiping Rebellion, although the Miao an Panthay Rebellions, and the Dungan Revolt, also had large death tolls. The third plague pandemic also originated in Yunnan in 1855, which killed approximately two million people in China. 20th and 21st centuries There were additional conflicts at the turn of the 20th century, which had significant geopolitical consequences for China, but did not result in the same high levels of mortality seen previously. It was not until the overlapping Chinese Civil War (1927-1949) and Second World War (1937-1945) where the death tolls reached approximately 10 and 20 million respectively. Additionally, as China attempted to industrialize during the Great Leap Forward (1958-1962), economic and agricultural mismanagement resulted in the deaths of tens of millions (possibly as many as 55 million) in less than four years, during the Great Chinese Famine. This mortality is not observable on the given dataset, due to the rapidity of China's demographic transition over the entire period; this saw improvements in healthcare, sanitation, and infrastructure result in sweeping changes across the population. The early 2020s marked some significant milestones in China's demographics, where it was overtaken by India as the world's most populous country, and its population also went into decline. Current projections suggest that China is heading for a "demographic disaster", as its rapidly aging population is placing significant burdens on China's economy, government, and society. In stark contrast to the restrictive "one-child policy" of the past, the government has introduced a series of pro-fertility incentives for couples to have larger families, although the impact of these policies are yet to materialize. If these current projections come true, then China's population may be around half its current size by the end of the century.

The database POPLINK is a longitudinal population database under construction with the support of Riksbankens Jubileumsfond and Umeå University. The database contains personal data of the regions Umeå and Skellefteå during the period 1700-1950. In the beginning of 2014, there was information on approximately 600 000 individuals, 3,3 millions entries and up to 15 generations. This makes POPLINK to one of the world’s largest and most detailed population databases.

The database is a resource in many areas of research. Not least because of the possibility to link together POPLINK with other modern registers. This means, among other things, that the life sciences can investigate how nature and nurture influence the development of our most common national diseases, such as cardiovascular diseases, cancer, and diabetes. Within the social sciences and the humanities, the increasing access to personal records brings about an opportunity for new perspectives on the rise of the welfare state and the time that shaped the modern Sweden.

POPLINK is a research database, which means that only academic researchers can be given access after approval from the Regional Ethical Review Board.

Purpose:

The Demographic Database (DDB) is a special unit at Umeå University with activities focused on two main areas: data production and research. DDB creates and makes available population databases, mainly based on historical information in parish registers during the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries.

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This dataset contains reconstructions of land use and land cover from AD 800 to 1992 in global coverage at 30 minute resolution. After AD 1700, the data is based on Ramankutty and Foley (1999), Foley et al. (2003) and Klein Goldewijk (2001); for earlier times, land use is estimated with a country-based method that uses national population data (McEvedy and Jones, 1978) as a proxy for agricultural activity. For each year, a map is provided that contains 14 fields. Each field holds the fraction the respective vegetation type covers in the total grid cell (0-1). The vegetation types comprise three human land use types (crop, C3 pasture and C4 pasture) and 11 natural vegetation types (based on the potential vegetation map of Ramankutty and Foley, 1999). For the time period prior to AD 1700 two additional land cover scenarios are provided (scenmin and scenmax). They quantify the uncertainties associated with this approach, through technological progress in agriculture and uncertainties in population estimates. The additional datasets combine the known uncertainties in a way to give the most extreme range for possible estimates of land use area for each year before 1700. The datasets thus do not represent consistent time series of plausible alternative scenarios, but indicate, for each year, a maximum range outside which estimates of land use area are unrealistic. See citations and references for details. Vegetation types: 1 Tropical evergreen forest 2 Tropical deciduous forest 3 Temperate evergreen broadleaf forest 4 Temperate/boreal deciduous broadleaf forest 5 Temperate/boreal evergreen conifers 6 Temperate/boreal deciduous conifers 7 Raingreen shrubs 8 Summergreen shrubs 9 C3 natural grasses 10 C4 natural grasses 11 Tundra 12 Crop 13 C3 pasture 14 C4 pasture

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