Can the Earth sustain 10 billion people?: Demographers estimate that the human population will eclipse 7 billion by the end of October -- only 12 years since we crossed the 6 billion-person threshold. And while experts long predicted that the global population would level out at 9 billion by mid-century, the United Nations has now adjusted those projections upward. According to a new report, we can expect 10.1 billion people on Earth by 2100.