A little over a decade ago, the world’s population stood at 6billion. By the end of October, it will reach 7 billion.

十多年前，世界人口达到了60亿。而到今年十月底，这个数字将会变成70亿。

With five babies being born every second, 78 million people are added to the global community each year.

The population was fewer than 1 billion in 1800, 3 billion in 1960 and 6 billion as recently as 1999.

According to the United Nations, the next landmark¹ statistic² will be 8 billion in 2025.

Much of the dramatic increase can be accounted for by the world’s poorest nations, which are expected to double their numbers over the next decade.

‘With the population still growing by about 80 million each year, it’s hard not to be alarmed,’ said Robert Kunzig, author of an article entitled ‘7 Billion’ in National Geographic³ magazine.

‘Right now on Earth, water tables are falling, soil is eroding⁴（侵蚀，磨损） , glaciers⁵ are melting, and fish stocks are vanishing. Close to a billion people go hungry each day.’

Researchers say the world’s population will level off at about 9billion in the middle of the century.

‘How we’re going to feed 9 billion people by 2050 is a daunting⁶（使人畏缩的） question,’ Mr Kunzig said.

There are currently 1.8 billion young people, aged⁷ between ten and 24. Demographers⁸ say the average couple needs to have 2.1 children to keep the population steady. In Western Europe, that number had dropped to 1.4 by the late 1990s.

In parts of Europe and East Asia, there is growing concern that there will not be enough young people to support the growing number of retirees.