The United Nations on World Population Day on Saturday showed in its world population trend that the number of global population stands at about 7.7 billion.   “It took hundreds of thousands of years for the world population to grow to 1 billion but in just another 200 years or so, the global population grew sevenfold,” the UN data shows.   According to the global population trend by the UN, in 2011, the global population reached 7 billion mark, and today it stands at about 7.7 billion.   The global population is expected to grow to around 8.5 billion in 2030, 9.7 billion in 2050, and 10.9 billion in 2100, the UN predicts.   This dramatic growth has been driven largely by increasing numbers of people surviving to reproductive age, and has been accompanied by major changes in fertility rates, increasing urbanization and accelerating migration.   These trends will have far-reaching implications for generations to come. The recent past has seen enormous changes in fertility rates and life expectancy.   According to the Global Population Trend by the UN, in the early 1970s, women had on average 4.5 children each; by 2015, total fertility for the world had fallen to below 2.5 children per woman.   Meanwhile, average global life spans have risen, from 64.6 years in the early 1990s to 72.6 years in 2019.   In addition, the world is seeing high levels of urbanization and accelerating migration.   The year 2007 was the first year in which more people lived in urban areas than in rural areas, and by 2050 about 66 percent of the world population will be living in cities.   Megatrends & far-reaching implications They affect economic development, employment, income distribution, poverty and social protections.   They also affect efforts to ensure universal access to health care, education, housing, sanitation, water, food and energy.   To more sustainably address the needs of individuals, policymakers must understand how many people are living on the planet, where they are, how old they are, and how many people will come after them.