The 8 billionth human

In 1999, the arrival of the six billionth person was declared by the United Nations, and Adnan Mevic was selected as that baby... Baby Six Billion.

"With more than three babies being born every second at that time, it was impossible to determine with absolute certainty when and where the world crossed the 6 billion mark. Some critics said it was far more likely the 6 billionth baby had been born in a country like China and India, which were experiencing massive population growth."

In 2011, the 7 billionth person was born. Danica May Camacho in the Philippines was selected this time round.

When will the 8 billionth person arrive? 

There are lots of world population counters and other websites which have 'totals' on them. All of them are inventions of course, in the same way as those two babies were not the exact 6 and 7 billionth person.

I was teaching this today, using some powerpoints created and shared online around Hans Rosling and his reminder that lifting people out of poverty and saving children's lives is the way to reduce the rapid population growth which has accelerated since1960, when the world's population was just 3 billion.

I came up with the idea of having a sweepstake with Year 8 and asked them to write down a date when they thought the United Nations would announce the arrival of the 8 billionth person.

Here's a chance for visitors to LivingGeography to get involved. I've created a Google Form for you to enter your guess. Add your own guess as to the date. I'll leave it open for a month or so and then close it, and then send a small prize out to whoever gets closest to the date when the world's media will report the latest milestone at some future date...

Oh, and my guess is the 15th of March 2023.

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