According to the United States Census Bureau (USCB) the world population exceeded 7 billion on March 12,2012. According to a separate estimate by the United Nations Population Fund, it reached this milestone on October 31, 2011.

The world population has experienced continuous growth since the end of the Great Famine and the Black Death in 1350. We are facing a severe world-wide population expansion problem. This course will further explain and analyze this world population problem.

This survey course introduces students to the important and basic material on human fertility, population growth, the demographic transition and population policy. Topics include: the human and environmental dimensions of population pressure, demographic history, economic and cultural causes of demographic change, environmental carrying capacity and sustainability. Political, religious and ethical issues surrounding fertility are also addressed. The perspective is global with both developed and developing countries included.

Robert Wyman is Professor of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology at Yale. Educated at Harvard and the University of California, Berkeley, his research has been in neuro-genetics: how genes build the brain. Recent articles in that field have appeared in Journal of Cell Science, Journal of Neuroscience, and Glia. Since Yale produces so many political and societal leaders, Professor Wyman believes students should be educated in the major world issues. Population is probably the most important of these issues as it is a major driver of both human and environmental misery. Publications in this field have appeared in Population and Development Review and Population and Environment.