Population: Baby No. 5 Billion

Matej Gaspar, born last week in Zagreb, Yugoslavia, officially became the world’s 5 billionth human. The baby boy received that designation rather arbitrarily. No one knows for sure when the earth’s population, which hit 4 billion in 1974, actually topped the 5 billion mark, though demographers suspect it happened in July. Zagreb was picked as the location by the United Nations Fund for Population Activities largely because U.N. Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar happened to be in that city when the chosen day rolled around. In a speech marking the occasion, Perez de Cuellar drew attention to the fact that 90% of this year’s 120 million births will occur in countries where food, health services and education are inadequate.