The second millennium (1001–2000) saw world population grow from 310 million to 6 billion and reshaped global civilization through colonization, industrialization, and two World Wars.
Key Facts
- Duration
- 1001 to 2000 CE
- World population (start)
- ~310 million (year 1001)
- World population (end)
- ~6 billion (year 2000)
- Population by 1700
- ~600 million (approx. doubled)
- Late 20th-century growth rate
- ~1.8% per year
- Centuries covered
- 11th through 20th centuries
By the Numbers
Cause → Event → Consequence
Emerging from the early medieval period, the second millennium began with roughly 310 million people worldwide. The High Middle Ages, Islamic Golden Age, and Renaissance created conditions for expanding knowledge, trade networks, and political organization that drove subsequent transformation.
Spanning 1001 to 2000, the millennium encompassed the Middle Ages, the Age of Discovery, the Enlightenment, industrialization, the rise of nation-states, and the two World Wars. Technological advances including powered flight, television, and semiconductor technology defined its final century.
By 2000, world population had grown nearly twentyfold to approximately 6 billion. European colonial expansion reshaped the Americas, Africa, Oceania, and Asia. The United Nations was formed, globalization accelerated, and the 'Great Divergence' established Western nations as dominant political and economic powers.