IT'S not every day we welcome the next billionth baby. According to the United Nations (UN), the 7-billionth baby was “born” on Oct 31, 2011. The last time it happened was 12 years ago on Oct 12, 1999 Adnan, the 6-billionth baby born in war-torn Sarajevo.
When it comes to population, the UN is regarded by most as setting the gold standard. But there is already controversy: the US Census Bureau reckons the milestone will only be reached on March 12, 2012. However, the two dates are within 0.4% of each other. Even the UN concedes its estimate is subject to a 1% margin of error. It's not easy to get to 7 billion, according to the National Geographic. It will take more than 200 years to count to it out loud; or, if you took 7 billion steps, you would have walked around the globe 133 times.
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