7 Billion by Halloween

The U.N. has predicted that the global population will hit the 7 billion mark by October 31. The population will only continue to grow as the years pass, straining both elastic and inelastic resources. Sub-Saharan Africa's population is expected to go form 900 million people to over 2 billion by the end of 2025, just 14 years from now. The population has increased exponentially over the past couple of centuries. There were just a billion people in 1804 and we didn't reach 2 billion until 1927. In took just 32 years to reach 3 billion, in 1974 we reached 4 billion, and in 1987 we reached 5 billion people. In 1998 we finally reached 6 billion and just 13 years later 7 billion. It's estimated that in 2025 there will be about 1.8 billion people will be living in water scarce areas. Water is with a doubt the most important inelastic resource for survival. For some reason poverty and big families seem to go hand in hand. Environmental analysts such as Lester Brown say that the best way to slow the loss of our resources is to "accelerate the switch to smaller families."

http://news.yahoo.com/challenges-loom-world-population-hits-7-billion-040835519.html