  The pseudorapidity density and multiplicity distributions of charged
particles have been the first measurements carried out with the ALICE detector
at the LHC. After an introduction on the experiment and some details on the
subdetectors relevant for these measurements, results from minimum bias
proton-proton collisions at 0.9, 2.36 and 7 TeV are presented. Comparisons with
other measurements and model predictions are also discussed.
