Earth at night

© NAS

It's World Population Day. Population densities seen from space

Today, on World Population Day, we take a closer look at the patterns of human settlements with NASA’s newly released night views of our planet from space. Established by the Governing Council of the United Nations Development Programme in 1989, World Population Day seeks to raise awareness on population-related issues through the world.India currently ranks 2nd (1.3 billion) after China as the most populous country, contributing to over 17% of the growing planet population of 7.6 billion. That said, current estimates indicate that around 83 million people are added to the word’s population every year, meaning that by 2030 the global population will have reached 8.6 billion, and 11.2 billion in 2100.