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However, the press release of the Population Reference Bureau is indicating 7 billion in 2011
The increase from 6 billion to 7 billion is likely to take 12 years, as did the increase from 5 billion to 6 billion.

Longer term population projections out to 2050 and beyond are likely to be too low for developed countries because of the demographic reversal where wealthier people are starting to have more children.

The current US census population clock shows just short of 6.8 billion people, which would suggest 7 billion people in 2012. The UN has a slightly higher estimate. All population figures are based on census data of varying age and estimates of growth and deaths. Census data can have often have systemic inaccuracy/error.

OTHER HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE 2009 WORLD POPULATION DATA SHEET:

* Africa’s population has just passed 1 billion. The continent’s population is growing by about 24 million per year, and will double by 2050.
* About half the world lives in poverty. Nearly 50 percent of world population lives on less than the equivalent of US$2 per day. Hundreds of millions of people live barely above that level.
* HIV prevalence now appears to be on the decline in Africa, but rates are still far higher than in other world regions. Swaziland has the world’s highest rate of HIV: 26 percent of its population ages 15 to 49 is HIV positive.
* The birth rate among U.S. teenagers is twice as high as the average for all developed countries.
* The U.S. rate is 42 births per 1,000 teenage girls (ages 15-19); the rate for all developed countries is 21 per 1,000.

19 page pdf report from the population reference bureau