Not that you were worried about this...
Written by: Beck
But the world's population has
officially gone
over 6 billion now. Malthusians in the 80s who were predicting a population crisis of epic proportions seem to have been stymied again, however. The rate of increase is decreasing, and is currently forecast to drop below the replacement rate some time around 2050. Money quote for ya:
US demographers also projected that a number of African countries will experience levels of mortality during this decade that will lower the average life expectancy at birth to around 30 years by 2010, a level not seen since the beginning of the 20th century.
Much of this decline in life expectancy is likely to result from the AIDS epidemic.
