Gallery: Global population hits 7 billion
A newborn baby is weighed after it was born at a hospital in Hefei, Anhui province October 31, 2011. The world's population will reach seven billion on October 31, according to projections by the United Nations, which says this global milestone presents both an opportunity and a challenge for the planet. While more people are living longer and healthier lives, says the U.N., gaps between rich and poor are widening and more people than ever are vulnerable to food insecurity and water shortages.Jianan Yu/REUTERS
A mother holds her newborn baby at a maternity hospital in Tbilisi, October 31, 2011.David Mdzinarishvili /REUTERS
Yuleixi Sequera from Venezuela, 20, looks at her first child and daughter Emili Victoria Sequera while a nurse carries her, minutes after she was born inside the childbirth unit at the Santa Ana public maternity hospital in Caracas October 31, 2011.Carlos Garcia Rawlins/REUTERS
Baby Cin gets a kiss from his mother Miran shortly after being born at Avista Adventist hospital in Louisville, Colorado near Denver at 2:41 a.m. local time October 31, 2011. Born to 38-year-old Miran, originally from South Korea, the new born boy, yet to get a first name is Cin's third child.Rick Wilking/REUTERS
A pediatrician measures the head of Linda Abigail, the third child of Lourdes Suyapa Rodriguez, 35, after she was born at 00:20 in the childbirth unit of the Escuela hospital in Tegucigalpa October 31, 2011.Edgard Garrido/REUTERS
An Indian nurse observes newly born babies at a hospital in Gauhati, India, Monday, Oct. 31, 2011.Anupam Nath/AP
Father and mother look at their symbolic 7 billionth girl child, Nargis, at the Community Health Center in Mall, about 45 kilometers from Lucknow, India's most populous state of Uttar Pradesh, India, Monday, Oct. 31, 2011.Rajesh Kumar Singh/AP
A new born child lies in the intensive care unit at the Lady Aitchison hospital in Lahore on October 31, 2011.Arif Ali/AFP/Getty Images
Newborn Pakistani babies, receive phototherapy treatment against neonatal jaundice, at the nursery room of a hospital in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, Monday, Oct. 31, 2011.Nathalie Bardou/AP
Babies are seen at a perinatal centre of Moscow city hospital number 8, October 31, 2011.Denis Sinyakov/REUTERS
A newly born baby girl is cuddled by her mother at Castle hospital in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Monday, Oct. 31, 2011.Eranga Jayawardena/AP