On October 31, 2011, the world population reached 7 billion people. The coolest thing I’ve seen today are the online “What’s your number?” calculators, presumably showing your approximate birth order among those alive today. Where do you fit into this story of human life? Check out these links to find out.
“What’s your number?” calculator from the BBC
“What’s your number?” calculator from Population Action International
Of course, the numbers don’t agree, and they’re only estimates after all. But pretty cool even so! My number on the BBC calculator was 2,562,940,416. On the Population Action International Calculator, my number was 2,469, 125,117. That’s with a birthdate of March 1, 1951. P.S. 2012 birthday cards welcome!
In case you’re wondering, the number of people on Earth has more than doubled in the last 50 years. We have added the last billion people in the past 12 years. According to U.N. projections, the 7 billionth human will be born somewhere around October 31, 2011. Check out the “What’s your number?” calculators and find out your place in the story of human life on Earth.
Joel Cohen: Top 10 key population trends on Earth with 7 billion
EarthSky award for excellence in population reporting in the year of 7 billion
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