Washington: The world's population will reach 7 billion in 2012,even as the global community struggles to satisfy its appetite for natural resources, 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 today 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,said Carl Haub, a demographer at the Population Reference Bureau. It didn t reach 2 billion until 130 years later.

"You can easily see the effect of rapid population growth in developing countries," Haub said. Haub said medical and nutritional advances in developing countries led to a population explosion following World War II. Cultural changes are slowly catching up, with more women in developing countries going to school and joining the work force.

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.

The Census Bureau updates projections each year on a variety of global demographic trends, including fertility and mortality rates and life expectancy. US life expectancy has surpassed 78 years for the first time, the National Center for Health Statistics announced last week.

The new Census report comes amid record high oil and gasoline prices, fueled in part by growing demand from expanding economies in China and India.

Source : PTI