The World - News from Jan. 20, 1987

The world’s population, 4 billion in 1974, is expected to surpass 5 billion by the middle of this year and reach 6 billion by 1999, according to a U.N. report. The rate of growth is no surprise, the report said, since it took just 14 years for the world’s population to grow from 3 billion in 1960 to 4 billion in 1974. By comparison, it said, it took about 35 years to grow from 2 billion in the mid-1920s to 3 billion in 1960 and more than a century to grow from 1 billion to 2 billion.