World Population To Hit 7 Billion In 2011 (VIDEO)

7 billion human beings. That's how many people in the world there will likely be sometime in the next 12 months.

To many, it seems like the figure just hit 6 billion. But according to the US Census Bureau, the current world population is just 10 million shy of 6.9 billion. The current US population is almost 310.6 million.

To view the most recent statistics on the world and US populations from the Census Bureau, click here.

The growth has been pretty much on track from most recent predictions, as the tremendous rise has been fostered by developing nations. By 2050 India will likely overtake China as the world's most populous nation, according to CNN. By that point the US should be the world's third most populous country, with about 439 million.

So what kind of effect does this growth have? With rising food prices and expanding developing nations there are many potential problems.

The National Geographic video below does an amazing job of showing just what 7 billion means for humanity, and the Earth itself.

For some great pics from National Geographic's special population report click here.

WATCH:

Comments

[TheRethuggery]

08:34 PM on 01/06/2011

Good. Maybe baggers will finally start to realize that white is a minority in the world.

[dtairtime]

05:29 PM on 01/06/2011

Both this country and the worlds populations have about doubled in the last 50-60 years.

Yet we have increased legal immigration (which is the main cause of our population growth) to more then when we accepted pretty much anyone who could get here. And others are vocal over granting amnesty or comprehensive immigration reform for the 12-20 million here illegally. Yes they are not all of our growth but since we can't tell people to slow down on making babies they are they only ones we CAN control the numbers of.

Just think how many hundreds of acres of landfills 12-20 million people need.
How many millions of gallons of wastewater those millions produce every day.
How much sewage is pumped into our rivers and groundwater.
How many rivers must be damned to supply power for them alone.
How many millions of gallons of fuel are burned into our air every day.
How much farmland is plowed over to house them.
Etc. Etc.