World development

World development is a very broad subject of the development of the world. It is the direction from where we are now, and is contrasted to world history, which is the past.

It includes the astronomical developments of the entire universe, our galaxy, the solar system, the planet Earth. It also includes, relatively more specifically, the development of life and humanity, the latter which, in turn, may be divided into several fields of study.

In summary:
*universe is expanding
*our galaxy is approaching its neighbor
*the Sun is shining brighter and brighter
*the Earth's surface is getting warmer
*the number of species is decreasing
*the number of humans is increasing
*Their life expectancy, literacy, education, standard of living, socioculture and economy are increasing
*Technology development is accelerating

Astronomy
Universe

The universe is continuing its metric expansion of space. It is progressing towards one of the multiple proposed ultimate fates of the universe.

Our galaxy
The Milky Way, our galaxy, is continuing it's collision-course with the Andromeda galaxy at 100 to 140 kilometers per second, expecting to cause the Andromeda-Milky Way collision in 3 to 4 billion years.

Our solar system

As a result of steady accumulation of helium ash at the Sun's core, the is slowly increasing. It will result in an increase of 10 percent over the next 1.1 billion years, thus not yet posing any threat to Earth.

Earth

The Earth is slowly cooling down, resulting in a slow loss of its atmosphere and oceans (due to lower volcanism), progressing towards a complete loss of the surface water in a billion years. The surface (biosphere), on the other hand, is increasing in greenhouse gases and is going through a global warming, with a temperature increase projected to result in a rise of during the twenty-first century.

Life
There is an ongoing extinction of species due to human influences. It is estimated at 100 to 1000 times "background" or average extinction rates in the evolutionary time scale of planet Earth;, and is not keeping up with speciation. It proceeds at a rate estimated to have eradicated half of presently existing species by 2100.

Deforestation today proceeds at 55,630 to 120,000 square kilometres each year. At this rate, all tropical forests may be gone by the year 2090.

Humanity

According to Human Development Index, life expectancy, literacy, education, standard of living, and GDP per capita are slowly increasing worldwide, although faster in some countries than others. The world population is increasing with 2.2 percent per year, expecting to reach nearly 9 billion by the year 2050. There is also an ongoing technology development, sociocultural evolution as well as economic development.

Human Development Index

The Human Development Index (HDI) is the normalized measure of life expectancy, literacy, education, standard of living, and GDP per capita for countries worldwide. It is a standard means of measuring well-being, especially child welfare.

The 2007 report showed a small increase in world HDI in comparison with last year's report. This rise was fueled by a general improvement in the developing world, especially of the least developed countries group. This marked improvement at the bottom was offset with a decrease in HDI of high income countries.

World population

The world population is increasing with 2.2 percent per year, expecting to reach nearly 9 billion by the year 2050.

Globally, the growth rate of the human population has slowed down a little since its peak in the 1980s (see

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