Challenges loom as world population hits 7 billion

1 billion more in only 13 years? Man, that is just crazy! We are victims of our own success.

If you put everybody on earth into Australia there'd be enough room to give each family of 4 a full acre. That's 4000 square meters per family, or the equivalent of 10 regular North American sized suburban housing lots per family. And that's just counting Australia.

There's plenty of room on this earth for all of us. The Malthusians have always proven to be wrong.

If we believe in the theory : couples of child bearing age naturally tend to have less children upon reaching a certain critical point of education & living standard ( examples : Japan, S. Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong & Singapore -- their respective ascension in the last 50 years unveiled the same trend -- close to zero population growth if not negative ) more effort ought to be poured in helping the poor countries in lifting their population's education & economic development ?

Rich countries cannot afford to cross their arms screaming at poor countries of making too many babies -- it is a small earth on which we all have right to share the resources -- could one blame the lady in Burundi village of having 10 kids ? I believe sincerely raising children is probably the only natural skill she possesses given the lack of everything in the country..

Rich nations will also have to "right-scale" their extravagant consumption habits whereby, Japan has demonstrated a good example vs the American dreams' villas & huge luxurious cars ( seen in TV series 'Dallas' ). Resources are diminishing my dear, we have to think of the Burundi lady's legitimate share as well !

There's plenty of room on this earth for all of us.

Not if we want to keep drinking fresh water, breathing clean air, and eating enough to survive their isn't. But we demand more than that, don't we? Where is our electricity going to come from? Our meat to eat (animals take up space)? There just isn't enough arable land to feed us all. Not enough steel and gasoline for all our cars. Of course we might just destroy the ozone before any of that becomes an issue.

Talk like yours is an invitation to all the Baron Harkonens of this world to create a real Giedi Prime. Trouble is there we can't expect our organic needs to be taken care of by other planets.

"My father had 25 children"

Wow, what a stud muffin!

"said Kasadha, who has two wives"

Wow, another stud muffin!

Serrano, anyone can have 25 children, just that most men aim to support their families. Like I do with my 2 children. By giving their precious children, schooling, housing etc. This stud muffin that you talk of, plans on the kids supporting him...the exact opposite. Enough thinking like this, and you have a nation in poverty, such as Uganda. Breeding children for bragging rights, without adequate funds or thinking, is awful, and doesn't work, as the kids will likely have to work as child laborers, due to no education, as per Ndageramiwe's example above. Three of her current 8 children have had to leave schooling due to lack of funds....so what does she do? Has a ninth child....... Responsible child planning like the Chinese could be considered as an option here? Wonder what you think of the 'stud muffin' now.....

Is the present world population more than the number of people who have died on this planet so far?

It's depressing to think of what will happen in sub-Saharan Africa, which remains relatively underpopulated with 900 million people. But that will change fast, and much of the animal life will go extinct. Visit Africa while you can still see safaris and the like.

Japan is not the "odd man out". Most developed nations and many developing ones are having their populations age and decline. Increasing the population and creating more children who live in poverty is not the answer!

Have these people who continue to have children regardless of how they are to feed clothe and educate them ever thought of limiting their family unit in accordance to their ability to provide these essentials. To bear children because this is what they are expected to achieve by their peers is unfair to the little ones who then have to live in poverty

The Malthusians have always proven to be wrong.

I'm with NeverSubmit. It's not so much the number of people on the planet as the economic and financial system that's at fault. The system transfers wealth and resources to the West, with the corporations and bank owners who reside at the top of the pyramid getting most of it. The people at the bottom have almost no chance of escaping from their misery.

I agree with what Jeffrey Duelley said in that 'Most developed nations and many developing ones are having their populations age and decline.' There are also factors like birth control, vaccinations, media programming and so on which contribute to this decline.

The family homestead in a Burundi village is too small to provide enough food, and three of the children have quit school for lack of money to pay required fees. […..] "Extreme poverty and large families tend to reinforce each other," says Lester Brown, the environmental analyst who heads the Earth Policy Institute in Washington. "The challenge is to intervene in that cycle and accelerate the shift to smaller families."

Then they should NOT intervene except in a beneficial way, but that's like asking a leopard to change its spots. To see how developing countries are kept weak and in constant poverty by the West go to youtube and check out 'Confessions of an economic hitman' (by John Perkins.)

When a country becomes wealthy and educated then people naturally tend to have less children. But when they can't escape from their poverty through the West's imperialist interventions then it becomes a vicious circle. Our rulers are not interested in improving people's lot, especially in developing countries. Here's an example.

‪Bill Gates Admits Vaccines Are Used for Human Depopulation‬

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WQtRI7A064