In News
- Recently, the United Nations Population Fund, stated that the world’s population has reached 8 billion.
More about the news
- Reasons for the growth:
- This unprecedented growth is due to the gradual increase in human lifespan owing to improvements in public health, nutrition, personal hygiene and medicine.
- It is also the result of high and persistent levels of fertility in some countries, the United Nations said.
- Reaching 9 billion:
- The UN said that it took the global population 12 years to grow from 7 billion to 8 billion.
- It will take approximately 15 years — until 2037 — for it to reach 9 billion.
- It is a sign that the overall growth rate of the global population is slowing.
- Projections of the peak:
- The UNFPA projects world population to peak at 10.4 billion in the 2080s and stay there until the end of the century.
- Trends of growth:
- Slowing growth:
- According to the UN, falling mortality rate first led to a “spectacular population growth, but as fewer children were born generation to generation, growth started to slow.
- Impact of Per Capita income:
- Countries with the highest fertility levels tend to be those with the lowest income per capita as per UN.
- International migration:
- International migration is now the driver of growth in many countries, with 281 million people living outside their country of birth in 2020.
- All South Asian nations — India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka — have seen high levels of emigration in recent years.
- Slowing growth:
- India’s “youth bulge”:
- UNFPA has noted that India has its largest ever adolescent and youth population.
- According to UNFPA projections, India will continue to have one of the youngest populations in the world till 2030 and is currently experiencing a demographic window of opportunity, a “youth bulge” that will last till 2025.
- It noted that India’s fertility rate has hit 2.1 births per woman — replacement-level fertility — and is falling.
- India surpassing China:
- As of 2022, more than half the world’s population lives in Asia, China and India being the two most populous countries with more than 1.4 billion people each.
- According to the United Nations Population Fund, while India’s population growth is stablising, it is “still growing at 0.7% per year” and is set to surpass China in 2023 as the world’s most populous country.
- China’s population is no longer growing and “may start declining as early as 2023”, the UN stated.
