The world population will increase to 8.5 billion in 2030 and will reach to as much as 11.2 billion in 2100, according to the latest estimate of the Population Division of the Department of Economic Social Affairs of the United Nations.
Current world population
Over the past 12 years, the world added approximately 1 billion people to 7.3 billion as of the mid-2015. There are currently 4.4 billion people in Asia including 1.4 billion people in China and 1.3 billion people in India.
The Asian population represents 60% of the world population. Africa’s 1.2 billion people account 16% of the world population.
Ten percent (10%) of the world population or 738 million lives in Europe, 9% or 634 million people are in Latin America and the Caribbean and the remaining 5% are in Northern America (358 million) and Oceania (39 million).
Take note that China and India, which have more than 1 billion people, account 19% and 18% of the world populations.
According to the United Nations, the world population is composed of 50.4% male and 49.6% female. The median age of half (50%) of the global population is 29.6 years, a quarter (26%) of the people worldwide are under 15 years of age and 62% are 15 to 59 years old while 12% are more than 60 years old.
The world is adding 83 million people annually
The United Nations reported that world population continues to grow, but a slower pace than in the recent past. The global population was growing at 1.24% each year over the past ten years. At present, the population growth rate is 1.18% per year or approximately 83 million people annually.
Africa has the fastest population annual growth rate at 2.55% among the major areas around the world. More than 50% of the world population growth will happen in Africa between now and 2050. Asia is the second largest population contributor to the world population in the future.
Between now and 2050, Africa and Asia will add 1.3 billion people and 900 million people, respectively. In contrast, Europe’s population is expected to decline during the same period.
According to the United Nations, “there is a degree of uncertainty” surrounding its latest population estimates just like any type of projection. Its estimates were based on the medium projection variant (an assumption of fertility decline for countries where large families are still prevalent) and a slight increase in fertility in some countries with less than two children per woman on average. It also projected an improvement of survival prospects in all countries.
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