Hans Rosling of Sweden’s Karolinska Institute puts it nicely when he describes the world’s pincode as 1114—meaning that of the planet’s 7 billion people, roughly 1 billion live in Europe, 1 billion live in the Americas, 1 billion in Africa, and 4 billion in Asia. By 2050, the world’s population is likely to be 9 billion, and the pincode will change to 1125, with both Africa and Asia adding a billion people.
