2.6 Born Every Second

In the next 25 years, the world will be home to an additional 1.7 billion people — roughly the present population of Africa and India combined. To discover what that means for you, visit the Web site of the Population Reference Bureau (PRB), a nonprofit organization founded in 1929 to compile statistics on key global ...

In the next 25 years, the world will be home to an additional 1.7 billion people -- roughly the present population of Africa and India combined. To discover what that means for you, visit the Web site of the Population Reference Bureau (PRB), a nonprofit organization founded in 1929 to compile statistics on key global population and social issues and disseminate them to the public.

In the next 25 years, the world will be home to an additional 1.7 billion people — roughly the present population of Africa and India combined. To discover what that means for you, visit the Web site of the Population Reference Bureau (PRB), a nonprofit organization founded in 1929 to compile statistics on key global population and social issues and disseminate them to the public.

Searchable by region, country, or topic, the site houses piles of information on a wide variety of topics — for instance, family planning, urbanization, crime, and the environment. PRB even lets you customize data tables: Plug in selected countries, regions, or states, plus your variables of choice, such as birthrate or labor force, and you get a comparative table straight from the PRB’s "2000 World Population Data Sheet."

PRB’s site is straightforward and interesting, making it an excellent stop for the researcher concerned with emerging trends, or for the casual surfer just looking for a few arcane facts. But be prepared to squint. Thanks to the site’s tiny fonts, that key population factoid you’ve been searching for may be easier to find than to read.

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