world's population

The world's population will reach 7 billion in 2012, according to a new U.S government projection.There are 6.7 billion people in the world today. The US ranks third, with 304 million, behind China and India, according to projections released by the Census Bureau. The world's population surpassed 6 billion in 1999, meaning it will take only 13 years to add a billion people. By comparison, the number of people did not reach 1 billion until 1800.That is slowing the growth rate, though it is still high in many countries. The global population is growing by about 1.2 per cent per year. The Census Bureau projects the growth rate will decline to 0.5 per cent by 2050.By then, India will have surpassed China as the most populous country.