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Published:
2019-06-18 21:21:07 BdST

World population to reach 9.8bln in 2050: UN


The current world population of 7.6 billion is expected to reach 8.6 billion in 2030, 9.8 billion in 2050 and 11.2 billion in 2100, according to a new United Nations (UN) report launched today.

With roughly 83 million people being added to the world’s population every
year, the upward trend in population size is expected to continue.

The ‘World Population Prospects: The 2017 Revision’, published by the UN
Department of Economic and Social Affairs, provides a comprehensive review of
global demographic trends and prospects for the future. The information is
essential to guide policies aimed at achieving the new Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs).

The report highlighted that a reduction in the fertility level results not
only in a slower pace of population growth but also in an older population.

Compared to 2017, the number of persons aged 60 or above is expected to
more than double by 2050 and to more than triple by 2100, rising from 962
million globally in 2017 to 2.1 billion in 2050 and 3.1 billion in 2100.

In Europe, 25 percent of the population is already aged 60 years or over.
That proportion is projected to reach 35 percent in 2050 and to remain around
that level in the second half of the century.

Populations in other regions are also projected to age significantly over
the next several decades and continuing through 2100.

Globally, the number of persons aged 80 or over is projected to triple by
2050, from 137 million in 2017 to 425 million in 2050. By 2100, it is
expected to increase to 909 million, nearly seven times its value in 2017.

Population ageing is projected to have a profound effect on societies,
underscoring the fiscal and political pressures that the health care, old-age
pension and social protection systems of many countries are likely to face in
the coming decades.

From 2017 to 2050, it is expected that half of the world’s population
growth will be concentrated in just nine countries: India, Nigeria, the
Democratic Republic of the Congo, Pakistan, Ethiopia, the United Republic of
Tanzania, the United States of America, Uganda and Indonesia.

The concentration of global population growth in the poorest countries
presents a considerable challenge to governments in implementing the 2030
Agenda for Sustainable Development, which seeks to end poverty and hunger,
expand and update health and education systems, achieve gender equality and
women’s empowerment, reduce inequality and ensure that no one is left behind.

Substantial improvements in life expectancy have occurred in recent years.
Globally, life expectancy at birth has risen from 65 years for men and 69
years for women in 2000-2005 to 69 years for men and 73 years for women in
2010-2015.

There continue to be large movements of migrants between regions, often
from low-and middle-income countries toward high-income countries. The volume
of the net inflow of migrants to high-income countries in 2010-2015 (3.2
million per year) represented a decline from a peak attained in 2005-2010
(4.5 million per year).

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