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We can begin our discussion of population asglobal issue with what most persons mean when they discuss the population problem: too manypeople on earth and a too rapid increase in the number added each year. The facts are not indispute, It was quite right to employ the analogy that likened demographic growth to a long, thin powder fuse that burns steadily and haltingly until itfinally reaches the charge and explodes. To understand the current situation, which is characterized by rapid increases in population,it is necessary to understand the history of population trends. Rapid growth is a comparativelyrecent phenomenon. Looking back at the 8,000 years of demographic history, we find that population have been virtually stable or growing very slightly for most of human history. Formost of our ancestors, life was hard, often nasty, and very short. There was high fertility in most places, but this was usually balanced by high mortality. For most of human history, it wasseldom the case that one in ten persons would live past forty, while infancy and childhood wereespecially risky periods. Often, societies were in clear danger of extinction because death ratescould exceed their birthrates. Thus, the population problem throughout most of history washow to prevent extinction of the human race. This pattern is important to notice. Not only does it put the current problems of demographic growth into a historical perspective, but it suggests that the cause of rapidincrease in population in recent years is not a sudden enthusiasm for more children, but an improvement in the conditions that traditionally have caused high mortality. | 
