8 Billion of Us
The United Nations is reporting the planet's population has grown from 7 billion to 8 billion as of today (November 15, 2022). It took 12 years to add 1 billion people to the global population. National Geographic reports on the complexities: https://apple.news/Axxoc6ajKSyGX_dy_ddMw5w Next year (2023) India will overtake China as the world's most populated country (https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/11/india/india-surpassing-china-population-2023-un-intl-hnk/index.html). Africa will retain it's demographic pyramid and population growth rates even as other countries move towards demographies similar to Japan. Brazil will have more older people than younger people within thirty years (https://www.populationpyramid.net/brazil/2050/). Demography experts project that the global population will top off somewhere around 10-11 billion and then begin to recede.
So, what's the big deal? We can currently fit the global population in the state of Texas, with each person having a little land. The planet is crowded, but it is not overcrowded.
But that is not to say that the planet is not complex and fragile. 8 billion people eat and poop. 8 billion people have to move from point A to point B. 8 billion people have to figure out ways to interact.
The real takeaway from today is that the world in 30 years will bring with it new norms. Population "pyramids" have certain advantages. One of them is energy to burn - it's helpful when the majority of a country's population is young for the energy and entrepreneurial energy. Another is medical care. Younger people cost less than older people. Yet another is geographic expectation. England's Prime Minister is Indian. In the future, Africans will likely experience a noticeably heightened observable diaspora (unless they can fix governmental issues and interrelated to current cultural norms). Older people will need younger people to keep any measurable status quo (consider Germany's struggles regarding importing workers: https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/germany-wants-attract-400000-skilled-workers-abroad-each-year-2022-01-21/). That means the current love/hate relationship with "foreigners" is only likely to heighten globally.
The good news is that (if) the U.S. can remember she is a nation of immigrants, and (if) Christians realize they have a unique capacity to understand the ostracized and to love them where they are (and particularly in diasporas), we might find new opportunities to build relationships across cultural and national divides. The nations are coming to your local neighborhood. You'll still need to "go and make disciples"...even if it's in the cubicle next to you.
