Gallery: World Population: A National Geographic Tour
Jonas Bendiksen01venezuela-january-2011
Seven billion people is a tough number to truly comprehend. It's like geologic time, or the number of neurons in your brain. It's on a scale that we have little mental framework to understand. [](http://on.natgeo.com/q301cY)We tried to [gain a little perspective on this staggering total with some statistics](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/10/7-billion-people/), but sometimes the big picture is best understood as a collection of smaller scenes. National Geographic is marking the occasion with a [free "7 billion" iPad app](http://on.natgeo.com/q301cY) based on their [yearlong series on world population](http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/7-billion), and we've got a preview of some of the images and videos in this gallery. __Above:__ Venezuela, January 2011 ----------------------- Sharing a hillside with high-rise apartment dwellers, children dance at a shop in one of the squatter communities that ring Caracas, a city of 3 million. One in seven people on Earth lives in slums today. Providing them with better housing and education will be one of the great challenges facing a world of 7 billion people and counting. *Photo ©Jonas Bendiksen/National Geographic*
027-billion-video
Randy Olson03india-january-2011
India, January 2011 ------------------- Its steaming streets crammed with vendors, pedestrians, and iconic Ambassador taxis, Kolkata throbs with some 16 million people — and more pour in every day from small towns. In 1975 only three cities worldwide topped 10 million. Today 21 such mega cities exist, most in developing countries, where urban areas absorb much of the globe's rising population. *Photo ©Randy Olson/National Geographic*
Randy Olson04spain-january-2011
Spain, January 2011 ------------------- Immigrants like these Indians at a Sikh festival in Barcelona are bolstering Europe's stagnant population growth rate. Around the world, the childbearing decisions of young women will determine whether global population stabilizes or not. Research shows that the more education a woman receives, the fewer children she is likely to have. *Photo ©Randy Olson/National Geographic*
05united-states-january-2011
United States, January 2011 --------------------------- Bundled newborns on Sept. 1, 2010, are arranged for a portrait at Orlando's Winnie Palmer Hospital, the second busiest birth facility in the U.S. Unusual among industrial nations, the U.S. has a comparatively high fertility rate, due in part to the significant rate of teenage pregnancies and a steady influx of immigrants. By 2050 America's population is expected to top 400 million. *Photo ©John Stanmeyer/National Geographic*
06bangladesh-may-2011
Bangladesh, May 2011 -------------------- Taxi boats called kheya nouka cross the Buriganga River to Sadar Ghat, Dhaka's main boat terminal, providing transport in one of the world's most densely populated cities. Low-lying Dhaka is among those most at risk from rising seas. *Photo ©Jonas Bendiksen/National Geographic*
07bangladesh-may-2011-2
Bangladesh, May 2011 -------------------- Dhaka slums such as Korail (foreground) are bursting with environmental refugees, putting more pressure on a city laid low by aging infrastructure, intense poverty, and frequent flooding. *Photo ©Jonas Bendiksen/National Geographic*
John Stanmeyer08brazil-september-2011
Brazil, September 2011 ---------------------- Each morning Pessoa dresses up for her hourlong bus commute; she's working hard to take charge of her own future. *Photo ©John Stanmeyer/National Geographic*
09are-you-typical-video
Maitre Pascal10africa-november-2011
Africa, November 2011 --------------------- Forests are thinning out as hardwood trees are turned into charcoal, filling the bags of men careering toward a Congo market. *Photo ©Pascal Maitre/National Geographic*
