Editing Population growth (section)

==History==
[[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 [https://population.un.org/wpp/ United Nations projections in 2019].]]
[[File:Population curve.svg|thumb|upright=1.4|Estimated size of human population from 10,000 [[Common Era|BCE]] to 2000 CE]]
[[World population]] has been rising continuously since the end of the [[Black Death]], around the year 1350.<ref name=":4">{{cite web|url=http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2008/01/29/2149185.htm |title=Black death 'discriminated' between victims |website=[[Australian Broadcasting Corporation]] |date=29 January 2008 |access-date=3 November 2008 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161220120404/http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2008/01/29/2149185.htm |archive-date=20 December 2016  }}</ref> Population began growing rapidly in the [[Western world]] during the [[Industrial Revolution|industrial revolution]]. The most significant increase in the world's population has been since the 1950s, mainly due to [[History of medicine#Modern medicine|medical advancements]]<ref>{{cite journal |title=The contribution of vaccination to global health: past, present and future |publisher=Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society |date=19 June 2014|pmc=4024226 |last1=Greenwood |first1=B. |journal=Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences |volume=369 |issue=1645 |pages=20130433 |doi=10.1098/rstb.2013.0433 |pmid=24821919 }}</ref> and increases in [[agricultural productivity]].<ref>Armelagos, George J., Alan H. Goodman, and Kenneth H. Jacobs. "The origins of agriculture: Population growth during a period of declining health." Population and Environment 13.1 (1991): 9-22.</ref><ref>Taiz, Lincoln. "[https://www.scielo.br/j/txpp/a/TWxQX34RrdtTmTPpDPtgNhS/?format=pdf&lang=en Agriculture, plant physiology, and human population growth: past, present, and future]." Theoretical and Experimental Plant Physiology 25 (2013): 167-181.</ref>

=== Haber process ===
{{Main|Haber process#Economic and environmental aspects}}

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.<ref name="Smil 1999">{{cite journal |last1=Smil |first1=Vaclav |year=1999 |title=Detonator of the population explosion |url=http://www.vaclavsmil.com/wp-content/uploads/docs/smil-article-1999-nature7.pdf |journal=Nature |volume=400 |issue=6743 |page=415 |doi=10.1038/22672 |bibcode=1999Natur.400..415S |s2cid=4301828 |archive-date=2021-01-22 |access-date=2019-07-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210122190517/http://vaclavsmil.com/wp-content/uploads/docs/smil-article-1999-nature7.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>

=== Thomas McKeown hypotheses ===

Some of the reasons for the "Modern Rise of Population"<ref name=":12">{{Cite book|title=The Modern Rise of Population|last=McKeown|first=Thomas|publisher=Edward Arnold|year=1976|isbn=9780713159868|location=London, UK}}</ref> were particularly investigated by the British health scientist [[Thomas McKeown (physician)|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 rate|mortality]] particularly of childhood mortality followed by [[infant mortality]],<ref name=":02">{{Cite journal|vauthors=McKeown T, Brown RG |date=1955|title=Medical evidence related to English population changes in the eighteenth century|journal=Population Studies|volume=9|issue=2|pages=119–141|doi=10.1080/00324728.1955.10404688|jstor=2172162}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite journal|vauthors=McKeown T, Brown RG, Record RG |date=1972|title=An interpretation of the modern rise of population in Europe|journal=Population Studies |volume=26 |issue=3|pages=345–382|doi=10.1080/00324728.1972.10405908|jstor=2173815|pmid=11630563}}</ref>
# 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,<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|vauthors=McKeown T, Record RG |date=1962
 |title=Reasons for the Decline of Mortality in England and Wales during the Nineteenth Century
 |journal=Population Studies|volume=16|issue=2|pages=94–122
 |doi=10.2307/2173119|jstor=2173119}}</ref>
# The “McKeown thesis" states that [[curative medicine]] measures played little role in mortality decline, not only prior to the mid-20th century<ref name=":02" /> but also until well into the 20th century.<ref name=":3">{{Cite journal|vauthors=McKeown T, Record RG, Turner RD |date=1975
 |title=An Interpretation of the Decline of Mortality in England and Wales during the Twentieth Century
 |journal=Population Studies|volume=29|issue=3|pages=391–422
 |doi=10.1080/00324728.1975.10412707|jstor=2173935|pmid=11630508}}</ref>
Although the McKeown thesis has been heavily disputed, recent studies have confirmed the value of his ideas.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Korotayev |first1=A. V. |last2=Malkov |first2=A. S. |year=2016 |url=https://www.academia.edu/35548090 |title=Compact Mathematical Model of the World System Economic and Demographic Growth, 1 CE–1973 CE |journal=International Journal of Mathematical Models and Methods in Applied Sciences |volume=10 |pages=200–209}}</ref> 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 Fogel|Robert W. Fogel]] (1993) and [[Angus Deaton]] (2015). The latter considered McKeown as "the founder of [[social medicine]]".<ref name=":14">{{Cite book|title=The Great Escape. Health, wealth, and the origins of inequality|last=Deaton|first=Angus|publisher=Princeton University Press|year=2013|isbn=978-0-691-15354-4|location=Princeton and Oxford|pages=91–93|quote=McKeown's views, updated to modern circumstances, are still important today in debates between those who think that health is primarily determined by medical discoveries and medical treatment and those who look to the background social conditions of life.}}</ref>