File:Human population since 1800.png|alt=|thumb|upright=1.4|World human population estimates from 1800 to 2100, with estimated range of future population after 2020 based on "high" and "low" scenarios. Data from the United Nations projections in 2019. to 2000 CE
World population has been rising continuously since the end of the
Black Death, around the year 1350. Population began growing rapidly in the
Western world during the
industrial revolution. The most significant increase in the world's population has been since the 1950s, mainly due to
medical advancements and increases in
agricultural productivity.
Haber process Due to its dramatic impact on the human ability to grow food, the
Haber process, named after one of its inventors, the German chemist
Fritz Haber, served as the "detonator of the
population explosion", enabling the
global population to increase from 1.6 billion in 1900 to 7.7 billion by November 2019.
Thomas McKeown hypotheses Some of the reasons for the "Modern Rise of Population" were particularly investigated by the British health scientist
Thomas McKeown (1912–1988). In his publications, McKeown challenged four theories about the population growth: • McKeown stated that the growth in Western population, particularly surging in the 19th century, was not so much caused by an increase in
fertility, but largely by a decline of
mortality particularly of childhood mortality followed by
infant mortality, • The decline of mortality could largely be attributed to rising standards of living, whereby McKeown put most emphasis on improved nutritional status, • McKeown questioned the effectiveness of public health measures, including sanitary reforms, vaccination and quarantine, • The "McKeown thesis" states that
curative medicine measures played little role in mortality decline, not only prior to the mid-20th century Although the McKeown thesis has been heavily disputed, recent studies have confirmed the value of his ideas. His work is pivotal for present day thinking about population growth, birth control, public health and medical care. McKeown had a major influence on many population researchers, such as health economists and Nobel prize winners
Robert W. Fogel (1993) and
Angus Deaton (2015). The latter considered McKeown as "the founder of
social medicine". ==Growth rate models==