Population explosion: There will be 7 billion people on earth by the autumn, experts predict.

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

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

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

According to the United Nations, the next landmark statistic 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 Geographic magazine.

‘Right now on Earth, water tablesare falling, soil is eroding, glaciersare melting, and fish stocks are vanishing. Close to a billion people go hungry each day.’

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

‘How we’re going to feed 9 billion people by 2050 is a dauntingquestion,’ Mr Kunzig said.

There are currently 1.8 billion young people, aged between ten and 24. Demographers 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.

(Read by Nelly Min. Nelly Min is a journalist at the China Daily Website.)

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(Agencies)

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。

现在地球上每一秒都有5个婴儿出生，每年全球人口增加7800万。

1800年，全球人口还不足10亿，1960年全球人口达到了30亿，而1999年达到了60亿。

据联合国预测，下一个里程碑式的数字将出现在2025年，届时全球人口会达到80亿。

这些急剧增加的人口中，很大一部分来自世界上最穷的国家，预计他们的人口在下一个十年将会成倍增加。

罗伯特昆齐希写了一篇题为《70亿》的文章，发表在《国家地理》杂志上。他说，“全球每年增加约8000万人口，很难不让人感到恐慌。”

“在我们今天的地球上，地下水位不断下降，土壤受到侵蚀，冰川正在融化，鱼群种类不断减少，还有近10亿人口每天都在挨饿。”

研究人员称，到本世纪中期，全球人口将会稳定在90亿左右。

昆齐希说：“到2050年，我们怎么养活90亿人口，这是一个令人头疼的问题。”

现在地球上有18亿10到24岁的年轻人。人口学家称，要保持人口稳定，平均每对夫妇要生养2.1个孩子。而在西欧，上世纪90年代末，平均每对夫妇只生育1.4个孩子。

在欧洲部分地区和东亚，人们也越来越担心，年轻人将不足以填补退休人员增多造成的劳动力短缺。

来源：中国日报   编辑：许银娟