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Planet Earth / State of the Planet / Number of consumers

4,121,613,628
Number of
consumers
G L O B A L LY, R I G H T N O W

N OW IN 2020 THIS MONTH

THIS WEEK TO DAY

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World heading
towards 5.6 billion
consumers
If everyone lived like western
consumers we would need 5
planets to support us. And the
number of consumers is growing
by the second. The consumer class
will grow from 3.5 billion in 2017 to
5.6 billion by 2030. A “consumer”
is defined as someone able to buy
goods and services beyond the
satisfaction of basic needs.
Specifically someone having more
than 10 USD a day to live on - also
referred to as middle class.

Itʼs basically good

news
The fact that more people are able
to enjoy the benefits of buying
goods and services beyond their
very basic needs is essentially
positive.

But thereʼs a downside

The negative effects of
consumerism include the depletion
of natural resources and pollution
of the Earth. The way the consumer
society is working is not
sustainable. We are currently
overusing Earthʼs natural resources
with more than 70 percent. If
everyone on earth lived like the
average American we would need
5.2 planets to support us. The
number is 3 if everyone lived like
the average Japanese and about
3.3 as Europeans. And the number
of people in the consumer class is
growing…

The consumer
society is broken
If Earthʼs history is compared to
a calendar year, modern human
life has existed for 37 minutes
and we have used one third of
Earthʼs natural resources in the
last 0.2 seconds.

The problem: A linear

system in a world of
limited resources
The consumer society is run as a
linear system that basically
transforms natural resources to
waste. There is only so much
“nature” to use and such a system
will inevitably collapse.

''Anyone who believes

exponential growth can go
on forever in a finite world
is either a madman or an
economist.''

- Kenneth Boulding, 1973.

More and more people

are consuming the
planet
In a period of just 13 years, the
number of people in the consumer
class will increase by over 2 billion
people. The size of the “global
middle class” will increase from 3.5
billion in 2017 to 5.6 billion by
2030. Most new consumers will
come from Asia with China and
India being the main drivers of the
growth.

Rise of the global

consumer class
We already needs the same as 1.75
Earth-like planets to support the
rise of the global consumer class.
1.75 planets and counting...

1.7712141547
Number of planet Earths
we need
TO PROVIDE RESOURCES AND ABSORB
OUR WASTE

NOW IN 2020 THIS MONTH THIS WEEK

TODAY

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70 % overuse: The
consequence of a
global consumer
society
A growing consumer class is very
positive in the sense that it means
that more people are lifted out of
poverty and can enjoy the benefits
of the consumer society. But the
rise of the global consumer class
also brings huge challenges.

The 5.6 billion consumers in the

world by 2030 will result in a
massive increase in the demand for
energy, food, electronics, clothing,
transportation, housing, furniture
and so on. Some of the
consequences of the increased
demand are pretty spooky…

No more rainforests -
According to NASA, if the
current rate of deforestation
continues, the world's rain
forests will be gone by the end
of the century - This
countdown needs to be
stopped!
No more water - The
consumer society requires
massive amounts of water.
More than Earth can provide.
"There will be no water by
2040 if we keep doing what
we're doing today", according
to Professor Benjamin
Sovacool of Aarhus University,
Denmark. Not exactly
something to look forward to...
No more fish in the ocean -
The growing consumer class
means an increased demand
for fish and seafood putting
pressure on oceans that are
already being overfished. If
overfishing does not stop, the
world will virtually run out of
seafood in 2048, according to
a four-year study of 7,800
marine species.

27y 54d 13h 27m

45s
Time left to the end of
seafood
RIGHT NOW

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We are all part of what

is going on around the
world
As globalization accelerates, we
are increasingly relying on natural
resources and ecosystem services
all around the world to support our
patterns of consumption. By being
part of the consumer society, we
are therefore all part of a wide
range of global challenges:

Palm oil is used in our food,

cleaning products, cosmetics
and fuel. Palm oil is also a
major cause of deforestation
and climate change.
It takes 24,000 liters of water
to produce 1 kilo of chocolate;
21,000 liters to produce one
kilo of coffee beans and
15,500 liter for 1 kilo of beef.
The problem is that many
areas of Earth is basically
running out of water.
Most of the worldʼs clothes -
together with a lot of other
stuff - are made in sweatshops
where people sometimes work
more than 100 hours a week
for extremely low wages
Others are not paid at all.
Slavery is not just a thing of
the past. Right now, 27 million
slaves are producing everyday
products such as coffee,
chocolate, cotton, sugar, toys,
footwear,, electronics...
If overfishing does not stop,
the world will run out of
seafood in 2048.

Although we donʼt see all this, we

are still part of it through the stuff
we buy. Many are not aware,
though.

Many consumers
completely alienated
from nature
In a study from the University
of Arizona, the majority of
urban consumers did not
realise that meat, dairy and
fruit come from living things
that use natural resources to
live and grow.
7 percent of Americans think
that we get chocolate milk
directly out of brown cows...

The cost of a meal

If you consider the cost of a meal,
the complete detachment many
consumers have from the products
they consumer is a real problem.

Average cost of one meal:

10 kilos of topsoil
800 litres of water
1.3 litres of diesel
0.3g of pesticide
3.5 kilos of carbon dioxide

When you multiply these

numbers by 7 to 10 billion
people each eating around
a thousand meals a year,
you can see why food is
fast becoming the
challenge of our age.

- Science X

Human jaw: Most

destructive force on
the planet

“The human jawbone is

now by far the most
destructive implement on
the planet. It's wrecking
soil and water, clearing
forests, emptying oceans
of fish and destroying
wildlife as never before”.

- Science X

Ultimate symbol of a
wasteful consumer
society: The plastic
bag
One single plastic bag can turn into
2 million microscopic plastic
fragments. We use 160,000 plastic
bags a second.

4,252,572,310,819
Number of plastic bags
produced
WORLDWIDE, THIS YEAR

IN 2020 THIS MONTH THIS WEEK

TODAY

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What to do?
For our planet to be able to handle
a consumer population of 5.6
billion people, major changes are
needed.

The sun could power

the world - easily
The potential for solar energy is
enormous. In one year, the Earth
absorbs around 3,850 billion
terajoules of energy from the sun.
Globally, we use 0.57 billion
terajoules (570 million) meaning
just 0.015 percent of the amount of
energy striking us from the sun.
The sun could basically power the
Earth for a year in just 80 minutes.

Life cycle thinking

In addition to using solar energy,
we need to pay much closer
attention to the full lifecycle of
products and see old products not
as waste but as a resource than
can be reused or recycled.

3,274,480,686,153
Terajoules of solar energy
striking Earth
G L O B A L LY T H I S Y E A R

IN 2020 THIS MONTH THIS WEEK

TODAY

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6,673,136,523,364
Chemical production
S A L E S I N U S $ G L O B A L LY

IN 2020 THIS MONTH THIS WEEK

TODAY

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29y 54d 13h 27m

45s
The end of the world as
we know it?
TIME LEFT TILL POSSIBLE COLLAPSE OF
EARTH'S SUPPORT SYSTEMS

See more

Sources

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The World Counts

Never before has our planet, and we
as a people, stood before the number
and scale of man-made challenges
than we do today. Real change is
needed. Not just from politicians and
businesses - but from all of us.
Without understanding the situation,
and without developing a deeper
awareness about the lives we are
living - and the consequences it has -
such changes are unlikely to occur.
TheWorldCounts was created with a
modest hope that it may contribute to
such awakening.

Global Challenges
If you compare Earth's history to
a calendar year then we
(humans) have only have existed
for about 37 minutes - and we
have used 33% of Earth's entire
natural resources in the last 0.2
seconds!

See More

Happiness & Purpose

Our focus on consumption and
material wealth makes sense if it
leads to happiness and a sense
of purpose. Yet, evidence shows
that materialistic values are
linked to low well-being across
cultures and social groups.

See More

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