8 billion people in the planet
World Population Prospects 2022, published today on World Population Day, predicts that the world’s population will hit 8 billion on November 15, 2022, and that India would overtake China as the world’s most populated nation in 2023.
In 2020, the world’s population actually decreased by less than 1%, rising at its sluggishest rate since 1950. According to the United Nations’ most recent estimates, the world’s population may reach 8.5 billion people in 2030 and 9.7 billion by 2050. The population is predicted to peak at 10.4 billion people in the 2080s and stay there until 2100.
According to World Population Prospects 2022, fertility has decreased significantly in several nations during the past few decades. Currently, two-thirds of the world’s population reside in regions or nations with lifetime fertility rates below 2.1 births per woman, or about the number needed for a population with low mortality to have long-term growth of zero. Between 2022 and 2050, it is predicted that the populations of 61 countries or regions will decline by 1% or more. This is due to persistently low fertility rates and, in some cases, high emigration rates.
Eight nations—the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines, and the United Republic of Tanzania—will account for more than half of the expected growth in the world’s population by 2050. More than half of the increase forecast through 2050 is anticipated to come from sub-Saharan African nations.
According to Liu Zhenmin, UN Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, “the link between population increase and sustainable development is complicated and multilayered.” Rapid population expansion makes it more challenging to eradicate poverty, fight hunger and malnutrition, and expand access to health and education systems.
On the other hand, achieving the Sustainable Development Goals will help to slow down population growth globally and reduce fertility rates, particularly those related to health, education, and gender equality.
