WASHINGTON(AP) - In less than five months - Oct. 12 is the best guess - a child's birth will push the world's population to 6 billion.
The new benchmark comes 12 years after the last billion. It took 12 years for the billion before that. The United Nations is looking for slower growth over the next century, but some demographers now think the 7 billion mark could come even more quickly.
Median U.N. projections say it will take 14 years to add another billion people. Population projections, however, have become more complex than ever, with birth and death rates varying widely from region to region, the impact of AIDS, advances in population programs and longer life expectancies.
The United Nations will mark the birth of the billionth child on Oct. 12.
There are no plans to pinpoint who the child will be or where he or she will be born, but chances are the 6 billionth world citizen will be born a boy.
About 105 males are born for every 100 females worldwide.
