INDIA-SOCIETY-POPULATION

Pregnant Indian women wait for a check-up at a government hospital in Amritsar on July 11, 2013, on the occasion of World Population Day. Africa and Asia are the continents that will see the fastest urban population growth in the next 40 years, a UN report said earlier in the year noting that India and China are leading the surge. The Earth's population is expected to roughly triple by 2050 compared to a century earlier. It stood at three billion in 1950, reached seven billion in 2011 and is likely to reach about 9.5 billion by 2050 -- a rise that will occur especially in the poorest countries, according to UN estimates. AFP PHOTO/NARINDER NANU (Photo credit should read NARINDER NANU/AFP via Getty Images)