# 7 Billion and Counting

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7-billion-and-counting/601057>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [October 28, 2011, 9:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7-billion-and-counting/601057 "2011-10-28T09:18:19Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Alka\_Seltzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@Alka\_Seltzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alka_Seltzer)\
**Post date:** [October 28, 2011, 9:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7-billion-and-counting/601057/1 "2011-10-28T09:18:19Z")

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In case you’ve missed it in the news, the world’s population is expected to reach 7 billion in a few weeks time. This came as a bit of a shock to me, as I remembered the 6 billion landmark as being fairly recent (it was actually 1999).

This [page](http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-15391515) on the BBC News website is interesting, if you enter your date of birth it tells you how many people were alive at that time. In my 35 years the world population has grown by just under 3 billion.

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**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\
**Post date:** [October 28, 2011, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7-billion-and-counting/601057/2 "2011-10-28T17:39:30Z")

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We can only hope that the population will be evenly distributed by then, lest the planet becomes lopsided and turns of its axis. We balance on a knife’s edge!

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**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\
**Post date:** [October 28, 2011, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7-billion-and-counting/601057/3 "2011-10-28T17:43:36Z")

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[Pssst.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=629417)

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**Author:** ![Alka\_Seltzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@Alka\_Seltzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alka_Seltzer)\
**Post date:** [October 28, 2011, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7-billion-and-counting/601057/4 "2011-10-28T17:49:08Z")

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> [@Leaffan](#):
>
> [Pssst.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=629417)

I posted mine first. 😛

Now, if I could only persuade them all to send me a dollar…