Crowded planet: is Earth's population getting too large?

As websites go, World Clock - created by media group Poodwaddle - is a compelling piece of work.

Click on it and a colour chart displays our planet's vital signs: human birth rates, death rates, disease levels and a host of other measurements.

The top line is the most dramatic, however. It shows that Earth is now inhabited by more than 6,700,000,000 people and that number continues to rise at a staggering rate.

Watch the site and its whirling digits. After a minute the population figure rises by 145, an increase of more than two people per second.

Australia's population now stands at 21.5 million and by 2050 is expected to reach around 33 million .... The question is: can Australia take this population jump ....
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