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Population 7 Billion

Learn About Population Density and Human Impacts

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Photograph by Randy Olson
With the worldwide population reaching and exceeding seven billion in 2011, National Geographic magazine offers a year-long series examining specific challenges and solutions to the issues we face. The topics explored include: global population projections, the human impact on our planet, ocean acidification, rising sea levels, food production needs, population demographics, and biodiversity.

Get activities, maps, videos, and interactives to help your students understand what it means to their lives and to the world that there are seven billion people on the planet.

Activities & Related Media

Get multimedia, standards-aligned activities on population density and human impacts for elementary, middle, and high school classrooms.

Mapping

Get maps related to the feature article topics, including interactive maps with relevant data layers, a large-format printable map of the world, and black-and-white outline maps of countries.

Reference

Find student-friendly encyclopedic entries and graphics on the magazine article topics for use with middle and high school students.

National Geographic Magazine

  • Photo: Crowd of people gather for Ratha Yatra Religious festival.

    7 Billion Hub

    There are now 7 billion people on the planet. Explore National Geographic magazine's Population 7 Billion hub to find out why you shouldn't panic—at least, not yet.

  • Photo: Population 7 Billion App

    7 Billion App

    The special year-long series on population from National Geographic magazine is now available in an app for iPad® featuring stunning photography, interactive maps, and more. Download it on the Apple App Store for just $4.99.

Population Series Feature Articles

Read the NG magazine feature articles for Population 7 Billion—a special series examining specific challenges and solutions to the issues we face as a planet of seven billion.

Special Collection

Interactives & Games

  • Photo: Digital composite image using 7,000 human figures.

    The Face of 7 Billion

    Investigate some of the numbers that characterize our human population, and take a look at the face of the most "typical" person on the planet.

  • Graphic: Amphibians

    Biodiversity Quiz

    Life on Earth flourishes in infinite variety. Scientists to date have identified almost 2 million species populating our biosphere. Can you guess how many identified species exist within each of the major categories of life?