Increasing population across the world

In demographics and general statistics, the term world population refers to the total number of living humans on Earth. The United States Census Bureau estimates that the world population exceeded 7 billion on March 12, 2012.According to a separate estimate by the United Nations Population Fund, it reached this milestone on October 31, 2011. In July 2015, the Population Division of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs estimated the world population at approximately 7.3 billion.
The world population has experienced continuous growth since the end of the Great Famine and the Black Death in 1350, when it was near 370 million. The highest growth rates – global population increases above 1.8% per year – occurred briefly during the 1950s, and for longer during the 1960s and 1970s. The global growth rate peaked at 2.2% in 1963, and has declined to 1.1% as of 2012.Total annual births were highest in the late 1980s at about 139 million,and are now expected to remain essentially constant at their 2011 level of 135 million, while deaths number 56 million per year, and are expected to increase to 80 million per year by 2040.

Continent	Density (inhabitants/km2)	Population (millions, 2013 estimates)	Most populous country	Most populous city (metropolitan area)
Asia	96.4	4,298	China (1,361,000,000)	Greater Tokyo Area (35,676,000)
Africa	36.7	1,111	Nigeria (178,517,000)	Lagos (21,000,000)
Europe	72.9	742	Russia (143,700,000; approx. 110 million in Europe)	Moscow (19,468,664)
North America[26]	22.9	565	United States (317,996,000)	Mexico City/Metro Area (8,851,080 / 21,163,226)
South America	22.8	407	Brazil (201,032,714)	São Paulo City/Metro Area (11,316,149 / 27,640,577)
Oceania	4.5	38	Australia (23,475,992)	Sydney (4,757,083)
Antarctica	0.0003 (varies)	0.004 in summer (non-permanent, varies)		McMurdo Station (1,200) (non-permanent, varies)