Via NPR: Countdown To 7 Billion: A Tale Of Two Worlds

 

 
Indian schoolchildren write English alphabets on slates at a primary school outside Hyderabad in June. India is on track to overtake China as the most populous nation in just 16 years.

The United Nations says that sometime around Halloween the seven-billionth person will be born into this world — most likely in India, which is on track to overtake China as the most populous nation in just 16 years.

This latest milestone may not come as a surprise. But it is remarkable nonetheless. It took Earth 50,000 years to reach the one billion mark. By 1960 there were three billion souls. Since then we've added another billion every decade, or less.

When the baby boomers' grandchildren reach middle age, they'll share the planet with more than nine billion people.

But demographer David Bloom of the Harvard School of Public Health points out that when it comes to population growth, there are literally two different worlds.

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