
These notes are to introduce the main results of the work on modeling global population growth with special reference to the long term priorities and the challenges set by the demographic transition in view of Rio+10. After the demographic revolution the global population is to stabilize as the world is moving into a new age structure, when the number of older people is to outnumber the younger ones. The most important changes are due to the development of an information dominated society, where of central importance become culture, science and education. The education industry at the later stage of the demographic revolution may become the most significant sector of the knowledge society, a fact not usually recognized. It are these issues of the demographic and socioeconomic development that should be of our main concern in assessing the future of the world, as it is entering the 21st century passing through the rapid and greatest crisis, since the beginning of the human story.