Late next month, a child will be born — the 7 billionth citizen of planet Earth. We will never know the circumstances into which he or she was born.
We do know that the baby will enter a world of vast and unpredictable change — environmental, economic, geopolitical, technological, and demographic.
The world's population has tripled since the United Nations was created in 1945. And our numbers keep growing, with corresponding pressures on land, energy, food, and water. The global economy is generating pressures as well: rising joblessness, widening social inequalities, and the emergence of new economic powers.
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