Budget

Forecasters expect world population to reach 7 billion next year

With 267 people being born every minute and only 108 dying, developing countries are adding more than 80 million people to the world\'s population every year.

Federal News Network Staff

July 30, 2010 1:42 pm

< a min read

The population of the world will climb above 7 billion sometime in 2011, says the Population Reference Bureau, a research group, Slate reports.

With 267 people being born every minute and only 108 dying, developing countries are adding more than 80 million people to the world’s population every year. Carl Haub, the group’s senior demographer, estimated that by 2050 the world’s population will be more than 9 billion.

While the news can be celebrated because it represents longer life spans, the group is concerned. A closer look at the data shows that the ratio of working-age adults to the elderly that they are called on to support is rapidly declining because of lower birthrates. It also shows that the majority of population growth is happening in the world’s poorest countries, “exacerbating poverty and threatening the environment,” according to William P. Butz, the president of the Population Reference Bureau.

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