How many people are there in the world?

6,681,394,380 . . . and counting . . . rather fast.

Today, July 11, is World Population Day, inaugurated in 1988 by the United Nations to mark the day when the world's population hit five billion, July 11, 1987.

The counter is at www.worldometers.info, where we learn that the absolute growth in population today (at the time of writing) is 135,468. Watching all the numbers spin around can be mesmerising. And worrying.

Some of the counters clock up slowly -- the number of women who died in childbirth, for instance, although that depressing total is already over 330,000. Reassuring, on the other hand, if we can believe the statistics, that world expenditure on education is nearly twice military expenditure.

Other eye-catching comparisons: as a committed city cyclist, it's nice to see that twice as many bicycles have been produced as cars this year, although I'm intrigued to see that there are three times as many computers as bicycles.

And can there really be nearly half a million new book titles so far this year? (Enough to humble any author who will soon be adding to the pile!)