Today marks World Population Day, with the global tally now at 7.4 billion people, the latest number recorded last month.

The world population passed six billion in 1999, and 7 billion five years ago, in 2011. It is projected to reach 8 billion in the spring of 2024, and 10 billion by 2056.

The annual population growth rate is declining, after peaking in 1963 at almost 2.2 percent. Now, it is growing at a fraction over one percent a year. It is expected to drop below one percent by 2020, and under half a percent by the turn of the century.

The current global average for life expectancy is 73 years for women, and 69 for men.

The 7.4 billion people inhabit six of the Earth’s seven continents. Asia is the most populous, with 4.4 billion people, or three-fifths of the world’s total.

China and India are by far the most populous countries. The United States is next, it is touching one-third of a billion.

China adopted a population control policy for decades. This prevented couples from having more than one child. The policy was relaxed in 2013, allowing couples to have two children, if either one of the parents was an only child.

The policy was abolished altogether earlier this year, paving the way for all families to have two children if they wished. But with many mothers approaching the end of their “child-bearing years,” they are increasingly resorting to assisted reproductive methods to have this second child.