The United Nations reckons today’s the day Earth’s population ticks over 8 billion people… And it also predicts we’ll hit 9.7 billion by 2050. Yikes… They’re massive numbers, but the rate of population growth has been slowing since the 1960s. The UN says the population will reach about 10.4 billion people in the 2080s and begin falling next century. But the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation thinks that peak will happen sooner, pointing to dwindling fertility rates across the world. Researcher Amanda Smith says their modelling suggests fertility would “continue to decline through the end of the century in many countries”. Back in the 1950s, women were having, on average, 5 kids each, but that number has fallen to 2 today. All of that means the world’s population is ageing – and experts say there needs to be a “massive cultural change” to care for all of the oldies the world will have on its hands…