populationnoun [ C, + sing/pl verb ]
uk/ˌpɒp.jəˈleɪ.ʃən/us/ˌpɑː.pjəˈleɪ.ʃən/B1 all the people living in a particular country, area, or place:
Ten percent of the population lived in poverty.
In 1992 the population of Cairo was approximately 6,500,000.
a growing/shrinking population
Throughout the war, there were horrific casualties among the civilian populations of both countries.
The UN is investigating new methods of population control (= limiting the growth of the number of people).
The country is facing a population explosion (= sudden growth in the number of people).
B2 all the people or animals of a particular type or group who live in one country, area, or place:
There's been a nine percent rise in the prison population (= the number of people in prison).
The dolphin population has been decimated by tuna fishing.
More examples
- Children make up a large proportion of the world's population.
- The population as a whole is getting healthier.
- The early settlers enslaved or killed much of the native population.
- In the past eight years, the elephant population in Africa has been halved.
- Many of the world's cities have populations of more than five million.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Environmental issues
- air pollution
- biodegrade
- biotic index
- carbon capture
- carbon credits
- carbon-neutral
- defoliant
- dumping ground
- eco-footprint
- ecology
- emission
- exhaustible
- natural resources
- particulate
- photochemical smog
- preservation
- preservationist
- recycle
- recycled
- reduce, reuse, recycle idiom
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