Live world population counter

 31 October 2011 is officially the Day of 7 Billion people on the planet, and counting.

For most of history, we lived as hunter-gatherers, and population probably
stayed under about 10 million.

When we discovered agriculture, numbers started to climb, but slowly and
steadily. With the agricultural revolution in the 1700s and the industrial
revolution in the 1800s, increased production of food and other basic
necessities allowed population growth to pick up pace. By 1800 we were at
1 billion humans.

The 20th century saw medical advances and better food production bring down
the death rate, with further population acceleration. The really dramatic surge in numbers occurred after about 1945, when population began doubling every few decades: we entered the 20th century with 1.6 billion people and left it with
6.1 billion.

The growth rate peaked in latter decades of the 20th century, and now birth rates
are dropping again.

This means world population will continue to grow (albeit more slowly) for most
of the 21st century - by its final decades we could be levelling off at over 10 billion.

- Olivia Rose-Innes, EnviroHealth Editor, Health24, October 2011

Note: It is not possible for population experts to count world numbers with absolute accuracy, only to make a highly educated estimate; The Day of 7 Billion has been chosen somewhat arbitrarily. Some counters (like ours) will be a bit under this figure, some a bit over -- but not by much. There is little doubt 2011 will be remembered as The Year of 7 billion.

Read more:
How many kids are too many?
Hello, 7 billion: Common myths and misconceptions about population
To breed or not to breed? Who's the most selfish?