7billion

The NPR has produced a nice visualization / video showing how population grew to 7 billion ( original article): [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcSX4ytEfcE] If you want to model the improvement in child survival, you just turn the birth tap off (or nearly). Then, with wealth, prevention, healthcare and better food, the population will also grow older (death tap also turned off or nearly) and during a certain time, lots of adults will be economically active (i.e. they will work and consume). This is a demographic dividend. But it comes with a risk: at the next stage, there might be a disproportionately high number of people compared to / depending on a small number of active adults (the next generation). In addition, if you fill it up slowly but you also empty it slowly, the container risk to be full soon, it all depends on the various rates … ...

The world reached a population of 7 billion people at the end of October 2011. United Nations symbolically chose Danica May Camacho, a girl born in Philippine, to mark this global population milestone. I recently wrote about the world population getting older, about non communicable diseases becoming the most dangerous threat to health ( here too) or about World Population Day(11th of July 2011). We are now 7 billion and new projections tells us we will be 9.3 billion in 2050. When I heard all the news around this, I couldn’t help but think about Hans Rosling’s presentation on population growth at TED Cannes, in 2010. ...

Today, 11th of July 2011, is World Population Day. For that occasion, and as the world population is expected to surpass 7 billion this year, the UNFPA is launching a new campaign: 7 billion people - 7 billion actions. They highlight 7 key issues to explore: Poverty and inequality: reducing poverty and inequality also slows population growth. Women and girls: unleashing the power of women and girls will accelerate progress on all fronts. Young people: energetic and open to new technologies, history’s largest and most interconnected population of young people is transforming global politics and culture. Reproductive health and rights: ensuring that every child is wanted and every childbirth safe leads to smaller and stronger families. Environment: all 7 billion of us, and those who will follow, depend on the health of our planet. Ageing: lower fertility and longer lives add up to a new challenge worldwide: providing for aging populations. Urbanization: the next two billion people will live in cities, so we need to plan for them now. These issues are not new. They are not even original: most bodies or meetings looking at issues for the future have approximately the same issues. But at least it’s another initiative to raise awareness, to think about them. And, most importantly, to act to tackle them. ...