World Population: 7 Billion

On October 31, 2011, the United Nations is expected to announce a projected world population figure of 7 billion. This global milestone presents both an opportunity and a challenge for the planet. While more people are living longer and healthier lives, says the U.N., gaps between rich and poor are widening and more people than ever are vulnerable to food insecurity and water shortages. Because censuses are infrequent and incomplete, no one knows the precise date that we will hit the 7 billion mark - the Census Bureau puts it somewhere next March. In the last 50 years, humanity has more than doubled. What could the next decade mean for our numbers and the planet? In this post, we focus on births, but we'll be back with population-related content including it's affect on the environment and our food supply.

A baby, minutes after he was born inside the pediatric unit at hospital Escuela in Tegucigalpa, Oct. 21, 2011. According to Honduras' health authorities, about 220,000 babies are born in Honduras each year. The cost of having a baby delivered at the public hospital is $10.

Obstetrician Ana Lara carries baby Diego Alejandro, born by caesarean in the private Aquamater clinic in Caracas, Sept. 10, 2011. Aquamater opened in 1999 and is the first centre specializing in waterbirths in Venezuela. It aims to advise couples, who pay a fee, on techniques for breastfeeding, pain relief and different ways of giving birth.

Mothers wait to be admitted to give birth at hospital Escuela in Tegucigalpa, Oct. 21, 2011

Newly born babies rest inside a ward at a hospital on the occasion of "World Population Day" in the northern Indian city Lucknow

Wang Hui Qio and Guo Hua Li, grandmothers of the newborn baby of Yang Huiqing, celebrate the birth in Ruijin Hospital in Shanghai

Thailand Bnjir Mencapai Bangkok

A woman holds a toddler as she walks through floodwaters in an area near the Chao Praya river in Bangkok on October 29, 2011.

Thai residents make their way across a flooded street close to the rising waters of the Chao Phraya river on October 30, 2011 in Bangkok.

A Thai couple push a cart by the empty shelves inside a supermarket whose suppliers were affected by flooding in Bangkok on October 29, 2011

Thai flood victims pack a crowded evacuation center on October 30, 2011 in Bangkok. Thousands of flood victims have been forced to take shelter at crowded evacuation centers around the capitol city. 

Flood victims watch TV at the Don Muang airport, which had become an evacuation center, on October 23, 2011 in Bangkok. It has since been evacuated.

Thai Dhammakaya monks push a truck, stuck in mud, as they work to fortify the flood gate at Khlong Rapi Pat on October 25, 2011 in Khlong Luang, on the outskirts of Bangkok.

This pair of photographs from NASA shows images from space of the Bangkok metropolitan area (lower center) taken by the Terra satellite on November 12, 2008 (left) and the same area on October 19, 2011, illustrating the flood surge north of the city.

A Thai rescue worker sits next to a crocodile caught in a flooded area in Ayutthaya province October 15, 2011.

This aerial picture shows an under-construction temple surrounded by floodwaters outside the ancient Thai capital of Ayutthaya, north of Bangkok on October 11, 2011.

Vehicles at a Honda car factory are submerged in floodwaters in the Rojana industrial district in Ayutthaya province, central Thailand on October 16, 2011.

Thai residents make their way through flooded streets on October 22, 2011 in Pathum Thani on the outskirts of Bangkok, Thailand.

People queue to buy bus tickets to leave the Thai capital at a bus terminal in Bangkok October 27, 2011.