World’s population hits 7 billion

The world's population is about to hit 7 billion. And while there is no way to know who can claim the distinction of being the planet's lucky number 7 billionth human inhabitant, the looming landmark has sparked a slew of interesting searches--and at least on compelling website.

The interactive site comes courtesy of BBC News. Enter your age, and you'll see how many people were living on Earth when you were born (approximately). You'll also get to see how many people in history have lived on Earth at the time of your birth. You can then break the data down by country and gender. All stats and figures are provided by the United Nations Population Fund.

If web searches are any indication, many folks are interested in digging even deeper into world population statistics. Over the past week, online lookups for "world population clock" and "world population stats" have both more than doubled. "World population 2011" and "world population 7 billion" have also spiked, as has the never-more-timely term, "population control."

According to a buzzy article from the AFP, around 80 million people are added to the world's population every year. By the year 2100, the population could be more than 15 billion. Contrast that with the year 1800, when the Earth's population was just a billion. Make room, everybody: It's gonna get crowded.