c. 1999 Religion News Service

UNDATED: Here are some selected statistics on world population growth from the United Nations Population Fund. The world’s population is expected to hit the 6 billion mark on Oct. 12:

World population growth has slowed from 2.4 to 1.3 percent in the last 30 years, but it is still rising by 78 million people per year.

Fertility has declined from 2.8 to 1.6 children per couple in developed countries since the 1950s and from 6.2 to slightly less than three in less-developed countries. The decline is most rapid in Latin America (5.9 to 2.7) and Asia (5.9 to 2.6) and least in sub-Saharan Africa (6.5 to 5.5).

Africa’s population has tripled since 1960.

Even with these declines, the population continues to rise because of the large numbers of people reaching child-bearing years, a phenomenon known as”momentum growth.” Global life expectancy has risen to 66 years from 46 in the past half-century.

In 29 African countries, the average life expectancy is seven years less than it would have been without AIDS.

DEA END SMITH