- The world population was due to hit 8 billion for the first time on November 15, 2022.
- That's in spite of the global population growing more slowly in recent years.
- The number should be seen as a positive rather than a burden, UN officials said.
"The milestone is an occasion to celebrate diversity and advancements while considering humanity's shared responsibility for the planet," UN Secretary-General Antnio Guterres said in a statement, per France24.
That means a billion people have been added to the world population in the past 12 years, CNN reported.
The world's population is due to grow further: hitting 9 billion around 2037 and 10 billion around 2058, the UN predicted in a statement.
The new milestone happened in spite of global population growth slowing down overall, to under 1% a year, per CNN.
The population is growing fastest in poorer countries, which is putting pressure on "already entrenched inequalities," Gutteres said in a statement.
In spite of serious concerns about climate change, poverty, and overcrowding, the number of humans living on the planet today "is not a cause for fear," said Natalia Kanem, head of the UN Population Fund, per France 24.
"It's a sign of success, people everywhere live longer, healthier lives," she said in a tweet.
"Focussing on numbers obscures real issues. Like how wealthier people, a global minority, generate almost all greenhouse emissions, and how the solution to climate change is not fewer people, but fewer emissions," she said.
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