Starting Monday we are seven billion

On 31 October 2011 the seven billionth person will be born. The world population has grown in only twelve years to a billion people.

As today, Wednesday, published UNWorld Population Report, the seven billion mark a milestone achievements, setbacks and contradictions.

"Although women on average have fewer children today than in the 1960s, the number of people on Earth to continue to rise," says the UN World Population Report 2011th The result to be more younger people - and more older people - than ever before. While interfere in some of the poorest countries persistently high fertility rates, the development, in turn, the low birth rates were in some of the wealthiest countries to pay a shortage of young workers, and the question of the transferability of social security systems.

Significant increases in life expectancy

The trends in world population over the last six years were still enjoyable. This was particularly true for the increase in average life expectancy of 48 years in the early 1950s to around 68 years in the first decade of the new millennium. Almost half of the seven billion people on earth is 24 years or younger, the report said. The infant mortality rate is 133 deaths per 1,000 live births in the 1950s, dropped to 46 per 1,000 live births in the period 2005 to 2010.

Diseases to be contained

Vaccination campaigns have led to a dramatic global decline of many childhood diseases. In the same period is the average number of children per woman by more than half of 6.0 decreased to 2.5. This development was partly due to the economic growth and the progressive development due in many countries, but also partly to social and cultural influences as well as to improve access of women to education, job opportunities and 'services on sexual and reproductive health ", including modern methods of contraception . (These services in the diagnosis and treatment of sexually transmitted diseases and care during pregnancy include as much as consulting and implementation of various measures hindering reproduction, including abortions and sterilizations, Note)

Nevertheless, the world population is growing annually still a good 78 million people, says the population report. This continued strong growth going back to the high birth rates in the 1950s and 1960s. By 2050 a further increase in world population to 9.3 billion by the end of the century would predict over ten billion people.

Enormous challenges posed by population growth

The rate of growth bring tremendous challenges for many of the poorest countries themselves. Mangle it in resources to meet the increasing demand for infrastructure, health and educational services and jobs to meet, says the UN World Population Report. The stabilization of the population, especially in the poorest countries requires better access to family planning. These services must be "based on human rights" and include the sex education of young people, especially adolescent girls.

Large differences in fertility

In industrialized countries, the average fertility rate was about 1.7 children per woman in the least developed countries at about 4.4. In the countries of Africa south of Sahara, a woman getting an average of 5.1 children. High birth rates for some countries high financial, health and social costs. In particular, women who are pregnant at intervals of less than two years had weakened and susceptible to disease.

The empowerment of women is a crucial prerequisite for the population growth on the basis of personal choices - to stabilize - and non-state provision. According to the UN have in developing countries today the 215 million women lack access to family planning. Still hundreds of thousands of women die each year from complications during pregnancy or birth. Many of these deaths are preventable.

In Europe they had hung not alarmed about the population growth, but about low birth rates. In some countries will try to increase the birth rate with the help of financial incentives.

Asia remains far ahead

Asia will also during the 21 Century, the most populous region in the world remain large. Live there today 60 percent of world population. Africa, however, will catch up strongly. Its population will be of a billion people currently triple by the year 2100 to more than 3.6 billion people. The population of North and South America, Europe and Oceania was currently at 1.7 billion people. They will grow, according to projections by 2060 to nearly two billion and remain roughly at a very slow decline until 2100 at this level. The population in Europe is expected to exceed its 2025 peak of 520 million people and then go back.

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