This is a very small snapshot of some of the attempts to quantitatively measure the world’s human and physical geography. Click on the right hand side for links to other sources of information. Note - all attempts at statistical measurements across different countries and time are open to problems of reliability and validity.

• everyday the world’s population increases by nearly 200,000 people. Current world population estimate: 6.5 billion (U.S Census Bureau)
• 175 million international migrants – one in every 35 people is a migrant (World Migration 2005, International Organization for Migration).
• of the world’s 6 billion people, nearly half live on just over £1 a day (World Development Report 2005, World Bank).
• 48 per cent of the world’s population now lives in urban areas.  The UN predicts that it will be over half by 2015 (Human Development report 2005, UNDP).
• world energy demand is projected to increase by over 50% between now and 2030 (World Energy Outlook 2005, International Energy Agency).
• the decade of the 1990s was the warmest, and 1998 was the warmest year on record, since 1861 (Third Assessment Report 2001, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change).
• the average number of disasters reported during 2000-2004 was 55% higher than during 1995-1999 (World Disaster Report 2005, International Red Cross).