The world just got a bit crowded

Washington: If you've been getting the feeling of late that you have less elbow room than before, it's not without good reason.

The global population passes a significant landmark this weekend.

This saturday at precisely 0716 PM Eastern Time, history will be made. The population of the world reaches the six and a half billion.

It's really a remarkable thing, considering we human beings left the last century at the 6.1 billion in the year 2000.

Calculated by the US Census Bureau and its world population clock, the milestone is based on census data from countries around the world,

factors in birth and death rates and migration.

Demographers say the rate of population growth has slowed down as compared to the past, but it's uncertain if it will continue on the same track in the future.

Today the planet is growing by about 80 million people every year, which would mean that we are adding one Germany to the world every year.

That begs the question - can the earth support its many citizens?

The answer is an unknown and depends on many things such as how well the food is distributed and the climate, especially rainfall.

If everything remains normal, the earth can support upto 12 billion people, possibly a bit more.

However, there is a violent disagreement with this assertion of 12 billion people.

The fact is, that we simply don't know.