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World population will more than double to 15billion by 2100, says UN
- Experts say urgent action is needed to curb growth and save the planet's resources
- Improved healthcare and longer lifespans are contributing to the increase
The figure has shocked experts who say the numbers will be catastrophic if realised and claim urgent action is needed to curb growth and save the planet's resources.
Previous UN estimates predicted the population to reach 10 billion people by the end of the century, however the startling new figure will be released in a report by the United Nations Population Fund (Unfpa) later this week.
The State of World Population 2011 report will mark the birth of the person that takes the world's population to over 7billion - expected to happen this month.
Roger Martin, chairman of Population Matters, which campaigns on population control, told the Observer newspaper that the Earth was entering a dangerous new phase.
He said: 'Our planet is approaching a perfect storm of population growth, climate change and peak oil,'
'The planet is not actually sustaining 7 billion people.'
The population has doubled since the sixties due to better medicine and healthcare and high birth rates across Africa, Asia, and Latin America while mortality rates of children have declined.
The population increase is also being boosted by increased lifespans across the globe.
However other experts have criticised the figure and remain unconvinced that the population would reach such huge numbers before action was taken.
Professor Jack Goldstone of George Mason University, author of The Population Bomb, told the newspaper he believed it was more realistic for the figure to plateau around 10-12million.
He said: 'The means and the desire to reduce the number of children people have is spreading around the world,'
Family planning throughout the developing world is a key aspect to controlling the population according to some experts, however cultural and religious reasons can limit the use of contraception.
John Bongaarts, the vice-president of the New York-based Population Council told the newspaper: 'What's really critical is the political commitment of governments. Family planning is not actually that expensive,'
