World Population: 7 billion, and counting (part 2)

Today marks a landmark moment in human history: the number of people on the planet is now, for the first time, more than 7 billion. It took more than a century for the world's population to go from one to two billion, but it took only 12 to grow from six billion to billion. Within 70 years, the population is expected to grow to a massive 10 billion. So is this a cause for celebration or concern?

DEBATE

Medhi DRISSI. Paris Bureau chief, Food and Agriculture Organization;
Jan RIELAENDER. Economist on the Africa desk, OECD;
Christophe Z. GUILMOTO. Senior Fellow in Demography, 'Institut de recherche pour le développement';
Steven SINDING. Former Director-General, International Planned Parenthood Federation. Co-author, 'Population Matters' - from MANCHESTER, Vermont, US.

Watch the first part here.

Presenter

François Picard

17/04/2013 - THE DEBATE

Show me the money: France's transparency problem

"Show me the money": a few days after the French government revealed the wealth and assets of all its cabinet ministers online, many in the political establishment are fighting back against François Hollande's "transparency" drive. But is there anything wrong with being a millionaire... and a Socialist?

16/04/2013 - THE DEBATE

The Boston bombings: a painful reminder of vulnerability (part 2)

There are still no hard answers, but lots of anguish and questions, a day after back-to-back explosions rocked America's oldest and most prestigious marathon. Douglas Herbert's panel discuss how Americans are dealing with a tragedy that Barack Obama is calling a cowardly "act of terror" - and look at how the rest of the world is reacting.