Quote:
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According to demographers, the world population first hit one billion in the year 1804. 123 years later, the global number of human inhabitants reached two billion. By 1959, the number hit three billion, four billion in 1974, five billion 13 years later and then six billion just 11 years later. A new report by the United Nations Population Fund to be released on Oct. 26 suggests that the global population is set to embark on seven billion by Oct. 31, 2011. Furthermore, the report projects that we will hit eight billion by 2025 and 10 billion by 2083.
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http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/312931
Sounds (if their projections are half accurate) that we've reached the end of the log phase of the growth curve and are entering the diminishing growth phase this century.
I'm guessing that increased family planning (decreased birth-rate), increased death from lack of access to (clean) water and to put it simply increased demand for limited resources will be the probable explanations for the slowdown in growth.
"…carrying capacity is determined jointly by human choices and natural constraints. Consequently, the question, how many people can the Earth support, does not have a single numerical answer, now or ever. Human choices about the Earth's human carrying capacity are constrained by facts of nature which we understand poorly. So any estimates of human carrying capacity are only conditional on future human choices and natural events." Joel Cohen