世界人口即將突破70億大關

The world's population looks set to smash through the seven billion barrier in the next few days, according to the United Nations。

It comes just 12 years since the total reached six billion - with official estimates saying the figure will top eight billion in 2025 and 10 billion before the end of the century。

And it is most likely the baby will be born in the Asia-Pacific region - where the population growth rate is higher than anywhere else in the world。

Experts say the pace of growth - which has seen the number of people on the planet triple since 1940 - poses an increasing danger to citizens。

With more people to feed, house and provide medical care for, they say the world's resources look set to come under more strain than ever before。

As populations stabilise in the industrial world, almost all growth in the near future is expected to take place in developing countries。

Of the 2.3 billion people the UN believes will be added by 2050, more than one billion will live in sub-Saharan Africa. The Indian subcontinent will add some 630 million people。

It will mean less land and water available for each person. Poorer people, who tend to depend more on natural resources, will bear the brunt as they will not be able to compete with the rich。

The major issues will be how to feed the new arrivals, which will see the need for new varieties of improved crops。

Ageing populations are also set to pose a problem with some industrial countries, such as Japan, nearly doubling its share of the population aged 65 and over in the past 20 years. This will put increased pressure on pension and healthcare systems。

But despite the problems the world is facing, Under-Secretary-General of the UN Dr Noeleen Heyzer said the seventh billion child of the world has a better chance of surviving past the age of five than a decade ago。

The life expectancy for both women and men has also increased in every Asian and Pacific country during the past decade, Dr Heyzer added。

And although the pace of development is 1.1 percent in 2011 - meaning an extra 78 million people will live on the planet by the end of this year - it has slowed down slightly from its peak of 2 percent in 1968.聯合國的數據顯示，世界人口在幾天後就會突破70億大關。

這距離世界人口達到60億隻有12年時間，據官方估計，世界人口將在2025年突破80億，在本世紀結束前達到100億。

第70億個小孩最可能出生在亞太地區，那裏的人口增長速度比世界其他任何地方都要快。

自1940年以來世界人口已經增加了兩倍，專家說這樣的增長速度給居民造成了日益嚴重的威脅。

他們說，要養活更多的人、提供更多的住房和醫療服務，世界資源所要承受的壓力比以往任何時候都要大。

由於在工業化國家人口數量趨於平穩，在不久的未來，幾乎所有的人口增長都將集中在發展中國家。

聯合國認爲，到2050年，世界人口將增加23億，其中超過10億將生活在撒哈拉沙漠以南的非洲地區，印度次大陸將增加約6.3億人口。

這意味着人均能佔有的土地和水更少了。對自然資源依賴更多的窮人因爲無法和富人競爭，將承受人口過多帶來的衝擊。

到那時，世界的主要問題將是如何養活新生人口，並將急需各種改良農作物的新品種。

人口老齡化也將對一些工業國家造成困擾，比如日本，在過去20年內，65歲以上人口的數量幾乎翻了一番。這會日益加重養老和醫療體系的負擔。

不過，儘管世界即將面臨這些問題，聯合國副祕書長諾埃琳•海澤博士說，世界新增加的10億小孩存活到5歲以上的機率比十年前要高。

海澤博士還說，在過去的十年，亞太地區各個國家的女性和男性的壽命都延長了。

此外，儘管2011年的人口發展速度是1.1%——意味着在今年年底前地球會增加7800萬人口——但相比人口高峯年1968年的2%還是略有下降。