Monday 31 October 2011

Seven billion humans: the planet’s challenges and chances??????

The world’s seven-billionth person was born October 31 in Kaliningrad, Russia. United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has noted that steady global population growth creates numerous opportunities for progress, but that it also poses a major challenge for the planet. Photo: Newborn babies at a hospital in Lucknow, India.

Global population growth has accelerated dramatically in the past 50 years. In 1960, the world’s population was just three billion. On July 1, 2011, the U.S. Census Bureau estimated the global population at 6.96 billion.

A forecast compiled by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA), the global population may exceed 10 billion by 2100. Photo: Indian children riding a cart home from school in a New Delhi suburb.

Developing countries account for the bulk of global population growth. The United Nations Organization estimates that only three industrial countries, namely, the United States, Russia and Japan, rank among the ten most populous countries. Photo: People collecting water from a huge well in a village in India’s Gujarat State.

China now has the world’s largest population totaling 1.35 billion and is followed by India with 1.24 billion. Photo: The parents of schoolchildren at a campus in Wuhan, the capital of China’s Hubei Province.

Against the backdrop of longer life expectancy and improved living conditions, the gap between wealthy and poor population strata continues to increase. Consequently, a lot of people face problems such as the lack of food security, as well as food-and-water shortages.

Many under-developed countries accounting for an increasingly greater share of global population growth are forced to tackle complicated problems of providing their populations with essentials. They also face degrading ecosystems and climate change.

The world’s seven billion people influence the consumption of natural resources and environmental pollution. Photo: A boy swimming in the dirty waters of Manila Bay in the Philippines.

Moreover, global population growth causes the extinction of numerous animal and plant species and facilitates climate change.

Apart from various threats, population growth provides opportunities for economic development and becomes the economy’s driving force. Photo: Fog in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates.

The United Nations Organization has decided to welcome the world’s seven-billionth person with a special program called “7 Billion Actions” and launched in mid-September 2011. Photo: An apartment building in Shanghai, China.



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