The population boom: What do the numbers mean?

Is the earth headed toward massive overpopulation by the year 2020 and beyond? Or is the world's populace destined to decline because of the horrors of disease and war? Whatever the size of the population, will all mouths be fed in the coming years? The experts seem to agree that by the year 2020, the population will increase from the current 6 billion people to about 7.6 billion people. But after that, the predictions vary wildly. The United Nations provides three possible projections of population after 2020, ranging from 5.6 billion to 17.5 billion people in the year 2100. Though the far future may be uncertain, there is a current increase in population of 75 million people per year in the developing world. Policymakers must address this reality while paying attention to the realities behind the population growth numbers of the more distant future. However, according to researchers, policymakers should not just focus on the sheer size of the population, but direct their attention to the implications of the numbers, which will potentially vary more wildly than the numbers themselves. To what geographic regions will the numbers be distributed? Will the regions have the ability — or the "carrying capacity" — to sustain the population in terms of food and income? Will population growth be counter-balanced by new technologies, for example, that increase food production to meet needs? Or will increases in food production lead the population to grow even larger and exhaust the supply of food? What will be the age distribution of the population? Will increased quality of life, social services, and family planning programs help to substantially reduce fertility rates?