:quality(75)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/elcomercio/YSLVFA2VEFB3ZIF3SBRLERDYLI.jfif "The world will reach 8,000 million inhabitants on Tuesday, according to the UN")
According to the estimates of the UNthe world will reach 8,000 million inhabitants this Tuesday, a figure that is the result of the vertiginous growth of the population during the last century thanks, above all, to the increase in life expectancy.
The world population, which took until 1800 to reach 1 billion and which a hundred years ago was still less than 2 billion, continues to reach milestones at great speed.
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The world has barely needed twelve years to go from 7,000 to 8,000 million, but the demographic increase has been slowing down clearly for decades: the annual growth rate peaked in 1964, when it reached 2.2%, and it has not stopped be reduced to below 1%.
According to United Nations calculations, it will take at least fifteen years for the world to add the next 1,000 million inhabitants.
The organization projects that the world will have about 9.7 billion people by 2050 and that it will reach 10.4 billion during the 2080s, and then stay at that level at least until the year 2100.
Today, population growth is concentrated in a handful of countries, as more than half of the population increase expected between now and 2050 will occur in just eight: the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines and Tanzania.
Meanwhile, it is expected that between 2022 and 2050 the population of 61 countries or areas will decrease by at least 1% due to low birth rates and, in some cases, high emigration.
For the UN, the milestone of 8,000 million is a moment to celebrate, as it reflects a world with higher life expectancies, fewer maternal and child deaths, and increasingly effective health systems.
“I know that this moment may not be celebrated by everyone. Some express concern that our world is overcrowded, with too many people, and that there are not enough resources to support their lives. I am here to say clearly that the mere number of human lives is not a reason for fear,” Natalia Kanem, the executive director of the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), explained last month in a meeting with journalists.
The United Nations insists that there are no reasons for demographic “alarmism” and recalls that the best way to stop population growth is to promote development, especially for women.
The data shows that in the most advanced countries the fertility rate tends to fall and, for example, today 60% of the world population lives in places where the fertility rate is below the replacement level, while the countries are least developed countries that continue to see meteoric population growth.
Currently, China is the most populous country in the world, but it is expected that by 2023 it will be surpassed by India, as projections have been suggesting for years.
The two Asian giants each have more than 1.4 billion inhabitants and are by far the largest powers in demographic terms.
The United States is the third most populous country in the world, with about 337 million, followed by Indonesia (275 million), Pakistan (234 million), and Nigeria (216 million).
Source: Elcomercio
I, Ronald Payne, am a journalist and author who dedicated his life to telling the stories that need to be said. I have over 7 years of experience as a reporter and editor, covering everything from politics to business to crime.
