The United Nations says there will be 6.5 billion human beings on the planet this July but that population growth rates are slowing. Still, the UN says that by 2050, there will be 9 billion on this Earth.
"The world has added nearly 500 million people since 1999 – just six years," said Hania Zlotnik, head of the United Nations population division. "The good news is that new estimates show that it will take a little longer to add the next half billion, reaching the 7 billion mark probably by 2013."
Between 2005 and 2050, eight countries – India, Pakistan, Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Bangladesh, Uganda, the United States, Ethiopia and China – are likely to contribute half of the world's population increase, while the population would at least triple in Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Chad, Congo, the DRC, Timor-Leste, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger and Uganda.