polis: a collective blog about cities worldwide

Seven Billion People on Earth

by Anna Fogel

National Geographic is conducting a year-long study on global population growth — based on the understanding that there will be seven billion people in the world by the end of 2011. The project helps us understand how to quantify seven billion (they note that it would take more than 200 years for a person to count to seven billion) and what the implications are for the earth, our cities and our resource needs (in 1995 there were three megacities with populations greater than 10 million; today there are 21).



The video above gives a sense of what “typical” means in reference to the world’s population. National Geographic has produced many interesting videos, articles and studies on population growth, and will continue throughout the year.