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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十多年前，世界人口達到了60億。而到今年十月底，這個數字將會變成70億。

現在地球上每一秒都有5個嬰兒出生，每年全球人口增加7800萬。

1800年，全球人口還不足10億，1960年全球人口達到了30億，而1999年達到了60億。

據聯合國預測，下一個里程碑式的數字將出現在2025年，屆時全球人口會達到80億。

這些急劇增加的人口中，很大一部分來自世界上最窮的國家，預計他們的人口在下一個十年將會成倍增加。

羅伯特昆齊希寫了一篇題為《70億》的文章，發表在《國家地理》雜志上。他說，“全球每年增加約8000萬人口，很難不讓人感到恐慌。”

“在我們今天的地球上，地下水位不斷下降，土壤受到侵蝕，冰川正在融化，魚群種類不斷減少，還有近10億人口每天都在挨餓。”

研究人員稱，到本世紀中期，全球人口將會穩定在90億左右。

昆齊希說：“到2050年，我們怎么養活90億人口，這是一個令人頭疼的問題。”

現在地球上有18億10到24歲的年輕人。人口學家稱，要保持人口穩定，平均每對夫婦要生養2.1個孩子。而在西歐，上世紀90年代末，平均每對夫婦只生育1.4個孩子。

在歐洲部分地區和東亞，人們也越來越擔心，年輕人將不足以填補退休人員增多造成的勞動力短缺。

來源：中國日報   編輯：許銀娟