Skip to main content

The world's population is estimated to hit 7 billion people on Monday. Around the world, developing countries are struggling for essentials like food and water. Developed countries continue expanding, helping perpetuate a cycle of poverty that impacts world resources.

Open this photo in gallery:

A baby gestures minutes after he was born inside the pediatric unit at hospital Escuela in Tegucigalpa October 21, 2011.Edgard Garrido/Reuters

1 of 7
Open this photo in gallery:

Residents crowd in a swimming pool to escape the summer heat during a hot weather spell in Daying county of Suining, Sichuan province in this file picture taken July 4, 2010.Reuters/Reuters

2 of 7
Open this photo in gallery:

People gather to get water from a huge well in the village of Natwarghad in the western Indian state of Gujarat, in this file picture taken June 1, 2003.Amit Dave/Reuters

3 of 7
Open this photo in gallery:

Combines harvest wheat on the Stephen and Brian Vandervalk farm near Fort MacLeod, Alberta, in this file picture taken, September 26, 2011.Todd Korol/Reuters

4 of 7
Open this photo in gallery:

A view of deforestation on Indonesia's Sumatra island, in this file photo taken August 5, 2010.Beawiharta/Reuters

5 of 7
Open this photo in gallery:

A view of the city skyline from the Shanghai Financial Center building, October 25, 2011.Carlos Barria/Reuters

6 of 7
Open this photo in gallery:

A view of a residential building in Shanghai in this file picture taken, March 18, 2009.Reuters/Reuters

7 of 7

Interact with The Globe