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This article was first published 12 years ago

Population @ 7 billion: Chilling images from around the globe

Last updated on: October 31, 2011 11:37 IST

Image: Babies sit in tummy tubs filled with water to cool down after a baby massage class held for young mothers in Netherlands.
Photographs: Reuters.

Overpopulation is the biggest threat to our planet. The rising population has led to a scarcity of resources and degradation of the environment.

The situation will become so grave that future wars will be fought over food and water.

Climate change will lead to huge disasters as meeting the food target would become impossible with rising temperatures, droughts and untimely rains.

The high levels of consumption by a booming population are a huge drain on the planet's precious resources.

As the world's population hits 7 billion, the United Nations has urged the global community to save the planet, invest in health and education of its youth.

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Population @ 7 billion: Chilling images from around the globe

Image: Runners fill the street in front of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building.
Photographs: Franck Robichon/Reuters.

Japan has the world's tenth-largest population, with over 127 million people.

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Population @ 7 billion: Chilling images from around the globe

Image: Wheat harvest on the Stephen and Brian Vandervalk farm near Fort MacLeod, Alberta.
Photographs: Todd Korol/Reuters.

The number of people living in poverty has risen to more than 44 million worldwide since June 2010. Overall, close to 3 billion people live on less than $2.5 a day.

Even as half of humanity struggles to figure out where its next meal might come from, the latest World Bank report dedicated to food prices is also not encouraging at all.

In four months from October 2010 until January 2011, food prices have seen a sharp increase. Global inflation has accelerated in most regions.

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Population @ 7 billion: Chilling images from around the globe

Image: A farmer takes water form a dried-up pond to water his vegetable field on the outskirts of Yingtan, Jiangxi province.
Photographs: Reuters.

Only 3 per cent of water on the planet is potable, so overpopulation will trigger problems as millions of people across the globe will go thirsty.

The arable land is shrinking which means the amount of crop produced will decrease with time.

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Population @ 7 billion: Chilling images from around the globe

Image: A migrant construction worker checks his mobile phone outside his dormitory in Shanghai.
Photographs: Nir Elias/Reuters.

Americans represent only 4 per cent of world population, yet consume 25 per cent of the world's resources. The available resources will not be sufficient to meet the demand of rising population.

The fast paced growth in industrialised countries contribute to climate change and environmental degradation.

The average births per year as of 2011 stand at 139,558,000. According to the World Bank, the global price of food has risen 36 per cent over the past 12 months.

Population @ 7 billion: Chilling images from around the globe

Image: People hang onto an entrance of a commuter train in Depok, Indonesia's West Java province.
Photographs: Crack Palinggi/Reuters.

The migration of people from underdeveloped and rural areas to big cities has triggered a population explosion in developed areas.

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Population @ 7 billion: Chilling images from around the globe

Image: People gather to get water from a huge well in the village of Natwarghad in Gujarat.
Photographs: Amit Dave/Reuters.

The United Nations estimates that by 2050 more than two billion people in 48 countries will suffer due to scarcity of water.

About 98 per cent of the water on Earth is salt water. Most of the remaining freshwater is frozen in glaciers.

Lakes, rivers and groundwater account for about 1 percent of the world's potentially usable water.

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Population @ 7 billion: Chilling images from around the globe

Image: High rise residential buildings are seen behind a slum in Mumbai.
Photographs: Danish Siddiqui/Reuters.

The population figure is expected to exceed 9 billion by 2050. India is projected to overtake China as the world's most populous nation by 2030.

As cities like Mumbai fail to accommodate the millions who have migrated to the city, slums are sprawling.

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Population @ 7 billion: Chilling images from around the globe

Image: An asylum seeker from Afghanistan waits for his meal during a daily midday food distribution service in northern France.
Photographs: Pascal Rossignol/Reuters.

According to the World Bank, 44 million more people around the globe have been pushed into extreme poverty since last June because of rising food prices.

 

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Population @ 7 billion: Chilling images from around the globe

Image: A reflection can be seen on a glass barrier in the Top Of The Rock observation deck in front of the Tribute in Light memorial behind the Empire State Building.
Photographs: Lucas Jackson/Reuters.

The US population is growing. It is projected to increase to 392 million by 2050.

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Population @ 7 billion: Chilling images from around the globe

Image: A migrant worker from Bangladesh shows his empty wallet to the camera as workers gather near a government office in Singapore.
Photographs: Vivek Prakash/Reuters.

Bangladesh has the highest population density in the world.

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Population @ 7 billion: Chilling images from around the globe

Image: Laundry hangs outside a student dormitory at a college in Wuhan, Hubei province, China.
Photographs: Reuters.

China is the world's most populous nations with over 1.3 billion people.

It is reported that the 'one-child policy' prevented an additional 400 million births.

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Population @ 7 billion: Chilling images from around the globe

Image: Fog rolls by early in the morning, near the Dubai Marina construction and residential zone, in Dubai.
Photographs: Steve Crisp/Reuters.

Air pollution kills nearly 3 million people. Air pollution is becoming a grave crisis as urban population and the number motor vehicles zoom.

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Population @ 7 billion: Chilling images from around the globe

Image: Sunbathers and roofed wicker beach chairs are seen along the beach on the bay of Travemuende.
Photographs: Morris Mac Matzen/Reuters.

The global life expectancy is projected to rise from 69 years worldwide this year to 76 in 2050.

Nearly a quarter of the world's population is expected to be over 60 by that time.

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Population @ 7 billion: Chilling images from around the globe

Image: An overcrowded train approaches as other passengers wait to board at a railway station in Dhaka.
Photographs: Andrew Biraj/Reuters.

Cities and towns are expanding at a fast pace, polluting air, water and farmlands.

Over 2 billion hectares of arable land have already been lost, with 16 million more hectares getting depleted each year.
The Third World, with over three quarters of the world's people, would double its numbers in about 33 years.

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Population @ 7 billion: Chilling images from around the globe

Image: Antisa Khvichava, 129 years old, rests at her home in the village of Sachino, west of Tbilisi.
Photographs: David Mdzinarishvili/Reuters.

Besides, water and food, the scarcity of resources will hit health services, jobs and basic amenities across the world.

In the poorest households, many are paying 15 per cent more for food than they did last year.

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Population @ 7 billion: Chilling images from around the globe

Image: A man walks on a pedestrian bridge overlooking traffic in Lagos, Nigeria.
Photographs: Akintunde Akinleye/Reuters.

Population grows fastest in the world's poorest countries. High fertility rates have are correlated with poverty.

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Population @ 7 billion: Chilling images from around the globe

Image: A women walks on a pedestrian bridge in front of a residential building in Beijing.
Photographs: Jason Lee/Reuters.

About 95 per cent of the world's cities continue to dump raw sewage into rivers and other freshwater supplies, making them unsafe for human consumption.

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Population @ 7 billion: Chilling images from around the globe

Image: People play tennis at a tennis court surrounded by high-rise buildings in downtown Shanghai.
Photographs: Carlos Barria/Reuters.

The world's projected population growth calls for an increase in efforts to meet the needs for food, water, health care, technology and education.

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Population @ 7 billion: Chilling images from around the globe

Image: Hundreds of commuters pack the Se central subway station during rush hour in Sao Paulo.
Photographs: Paulo Whitaker/Reuters.

In the poorest countries, massive efforts are needed to keep social and economic conditions from deteriorating further.

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Population @ 7 billion: Chilling images from around the globe

Image: Job-seekers visit booths of companies at a job fair held for graduates in Nanjing, Jiangsu province.
Photographs: Sean Yong/Reuters.

People aged under 24 make up over half of the world's population of 7 billion people while the proportion of people aged over 60 set to double by 2050 to 22 per cent of the world's population.

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Population @ 7 billion: Chilling images from around the globe

Image: Businessmen speak on the outdoor smoking area of a building in Lisbon.
Photographs: Marcelo del Pozo/Reuters.

Rich and poor countries alike are affected by population growth, though the population of industrial countries are growing more slowly than those of developing nations.

The population of economically developed countries would double in 120 years.