we're about to be surrounded by 7 billion of our closest friends and family

Check out this interesting map from good.is:

See the original here.

The top five in population as it stands today: China turns into Russia, India takes over Canada (which, the authors joke, would make a great arrangement for American companies who outsource technical expertise...), the US stays where it is as the third largest country in both population and land area, Indonesia moves to China, and Brazil stays where it is. Pakistan takes over Australia, and Japan displaces Sudan. Interesting stuff.

When I was born, world population was just under 5 billion. Today, it is almost 7 billion - with some estimates that nearly 99% of that growth takes place in the developing world.

How will we feed everyone? Care for everyone? Where are these people going to go? Already, Indian cities, as well as urban centers in Bangladesh, Pakistan, southeast Asia, sub-Saharan Africa, and Brazil are overcrowded. Around 50% (depends on which estimate you use) of India's population lives below the international poverty line - $1.25 USD a day (even in India, with a relatively low cost of living, that's a mere 55 rupees or less).

Mumbai is a good reminder of what 1.1 billion people really looks like. July 2008.

And bigger questions: how can we foster a world with more people and more perspective? How can longer lives mean more meaningful lives? Can we balance urban development with sustainable outcomes?