Grim Reaper's Revenge
We are currently adding about 80 million people to the world's population each year. From this you can calculate the number we are adding each day. Even the deaths caused by large disasters have little effect on a population growing so quickly. Below are some of the world's worst disasters, along with the approximate deaths caused by it.
At today's rate of growth, determine how many days, weeks, or months it would take to replace those people lost. Round off to one decimal.
| Disaster | Approximate Deaths | Time to replace |
| Bangladesh cyclone, 1991 | 200,000 | |
| Total U.S. deaths in all wars | 600,000 | |
| Great flood, Hwang Ho River, 1887 | 900,000 | |
| Total U.S. automobile deaths to 1989 | 2,600,000 | |
| Indian famine, 1769-70 | 3,000,000 | |
| All major global disasters as of 1988 | 6,500,000 | |
| Chinese famine, 1877-78 | 9,500,000 | |
| Present global famine | 5,000,000 to 20,000,000 | |
| Influenza epidemic, 1918 | 21,000,000 | |
| Global deaths in all wars in the past 500 years | 35,000,000 | |
| Bubonic plague, 1347-51 | 75,000,000 | |
| Children who died of starvation in 2005 | 10,950,000 | |
| Number of AIDS deaths since 1981 | >20,000,000 |
Questions
1. Do natural disasters have an impact on human population?
2. Does disease have an impact?
3. Why can we not rely on these things to control our population?
4. Why should we be concerned about the growth of the human population?