The world at seven billion

25 October 2011 Last updated at 16:16 ET Help

The UN is set to announce that the population of the planet has now reached seven billion people.

But will this number continue to rise in future years - and if so, what could this mean?

The BBC's Fergus Walsh crunches the numbers to find out.

Production: Anna-Marie Lever, John Galliver, Emily Jones. Design: David Gordon, George Spencer, Amanda Constantino.

Camera: Tony Dolce, Graham Hodson and Julius Peacock.

BBC © 2013 The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read more.

This page is best viewed in an up-to-date web browser with style sheets (CSS) enabled. While you will be able to view the content of this page in your current browser, you will not be able to get the full visual experience. Please consider upgrading your browser software or enabling style sheets (CSS) if you are able to do so.