World population To Be Seven billion in Six Years

The world population, which now stands at 6.5 billion and will touch the seven billion mark on Oct 18, 2012, at 4:36 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time, reported the science portal Live Science. With an average of 4.4 people added to the population every second, the world will be home to seven billion people six years from now. According to a report issued by the International Programmes Centre at the US census Bureau in March 2004, world population hit the six billion mark in June 1999. 'This figure is over 3.5 times the size of the earth's population at the beginning of the 20th century and roughly double its size in 1960,' it claimed.

Even more striking is that the time required for the global population to grow from 5 billion to 6 billion - just a dozen years - was shorter than the interval between any of the previous billions, it said.

The population on earth today is nearly four times the number in 1900. Behind that phenomenal global increase is a vast gulf in birth and death rates around the world. India’s population stand at 1.1 billion and China is at 1.4 billion. These two countries together make up currently about 35% of the world population. The growth rate in China has stabilized however India continues to expand and still produces a ‘new Australia’ every year.

Source: IANS