Trying to assess the importance of the United Nations' upcoming
celebration of the global population reaching 7 billion is sort
of like trying to assess the meaning of life. As the countdown
clock to the date keeps ticking, and people keep buzzing about
the number, many are trying to figure out the real importance of
hitting that marker. The Wall Street Journal proposed the
question: "How Do You Get to 7 Billion People?" The article
raised the question: Exactly how do you know that we are
reaching this symbolic number on a date set by the United
Nations, given that some countries don't have full census data?
"The world's population will hit seven billion on Oct. 31. Or
maybe not until next year. Or maybe it has already happened. "No
one knows for sure. But that hasn't stopped the United Nations
from picking the last day of the month as the symbolic date,
christening it as 7 Billion Day." Perhaps the occasion will
allow us to realize that we need to pay more attention to better
tracking our growth and impact -