Today is a big day in terms of population milestones, as the UN estimates the seven billionth person joined our ranks. As this fascinating visual from NPR demonstrates, it was only two hundred years ago that we reached the one-billion mark, so what does the near future hold?
As higher standards of living and better health care are reaching more parts of the world, the rates of fertility — and population growth — have started to slow down, though the population will continue to grow for the foreseeable future.
U.N. forecasts suggest the world population could hit a peak of 10.1 billion by 2100 before beginning to decline. But exact numbers are hard to come by — just small variations in fertility rates could mean a population of 15 billion by the end of the century
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