posted
There's a rather large amount of radiation in the area.
As for the population of Earth, remember that the planet had a healthy chunk of that population wiped out in a final world war. Sure, UFP technology could potentially support huge numbers of people. But would they want to? And from what we've seen of the planet, there don't appear to be any of the large "urban arcologies" that would be necessary to support such populations.
From the last statistics I've seen, the growth rate here on Earth, barring unforeseen influences, is going to flatten out in the mid 21st century. (Of course, there are always unforeseen influences.) In the case of ST Earth, I'd imagine that the population might be declining right at the time of WWIII, continue to decline after the war, and then experience a large boom after First Contact. However, some of that population boom is going to be directed off planet.
When I did some very rough estimates of the UFP population, I started with the only figure we've been given for the population of Earth. 9 billion. Unfortunately, those were all Borg. There really is no reason to say that that figure resembles the "real" one in anyway, but it is a number, at least.
------------------ "20th Century, go to sleep." -- R.E.M.
posted
While it would be necessary for humans to reproduce a lot to achieve a leading position in the UFP, it is obvious that Earth is not overpopulated in the 24th century. If there were 12 billion people, twice the population of today, or even more they would not only require food, water and energy, but first of all area. Everyone would want to have a small house of their own which would be disastreous for Earth's landscape. Think of the whole planet being some sort of suburb of Los Angeles. The planet couldn't be the paradise as often described.
posted
BTW, I think the population of the Federation is some 1 trillion.
I always thought the figure from "Statistical Probabilities" was vastly exaggerated, because it suggests a total population of 10 trillion at the very least.
posted
What about the IO base in B5 - or is that just a space station near the Io jumpgate? I remember that in one episode where Martial Law is created on Earth - Clark's government wanted Mars Io and Proxima Centauri to do the same...
Back to Star Trek:
known (so far) places in the Sol Star System that have a presence...
Terra, Venus station, Luna, Mars, Jupiter station (which I feel is VERY big - and very technical - I hope we get a nice station in that Voyager episode not just another Regulaesque spacestation. Emergency Evac point on Mimas? or was it Titan?
I reckon there is a human/federation presence through out the whole system...
Andrew
------------------ "...it might be easier to study ancient societies from distant orbit than it might be to sit next to the Guardian of Forever with a tricorder." - Baloo, January 2000
There really is no reason to say that that figure resembles the "real" one in anyway, but it is a number, at least. 
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