(Image source: Digital Journal)

BY CHRISTINA HARTMAN

The stork’s been busy! According to the UN the world’s 7 billionth baby was born Monday. Here’s how you might have seen it reported, from KABC and KNSD.

KABC: “A milestone has been reached in the world's population. We'll meet the baby who has become the 7 billionth person on earth.”

KNSD: “Baby Danica was born at a hospital in manila. Today the 7 billionth person will be marked with a string of ceremonies worldwide.”

But wait -- The Times of India reports, India is also claiming to have birthed the world’s 7 billionth resident.

But neither baby -- is the ACTUAL 7 billionth baby. As KGTV reports -- they were chosen to symbolize the milestone.

“The group ‘Plan International’ says it's impossible to know where exactly the seven billionth baby is born. … Just to show how quickly we've grown, 12 years ago the world had six- billion people. Back in the sixties, we had half that number. At the time of Jefferson and Napoleon there were just a billion people on earth.”

But amid the celebration comes concern about just how big a strain that kind of growth puts on the earth’s natural resources.

CBS talked with demographer Joel Cohen who says, this isn’t just a third world problem.

Mitchell: “With this many people in the world, our natural resources -- how endangered are we?"
Cohen: “There are a billion people already living with essentially no renewable water supplies. That's not a problem for the other guys only. Atlanta, Georgia has had tremendous water shortages and the studies have shown it's not because of climatic change there, but because of rapid population growth in the Georgia region.”

That -- sparking a discussion about population stabilization. The Christian Science Monitor talked to a Population Council rep who says...

“Stabilizing fertility rates – the average number of children born to a woman in her lifetime – is key to managing population growth. The starting point: more education for girls. That can start a ‘virtuous cycle’ of delayed marriage and childbearing, which leads to fewer children and more investment in the children that are born...”