World population to reach 8.1 billion in 2025, UN says
India’s population is expected to surpass China’s around 2028
The Associated Press
Posted: Jun 13, 2013 3:29 PM ET
Last Updated: Jun 13, 2013 3:39 PM ET
Related
External Links
(Note:CBC does not endorse and is not responsible for the content of external links.)
The United Nations forecast Thursday that the world’s population will increase from 7.2 billion today to 8.1 billion in 2025, with most growth in developing countries and more than half in Africa. By 2050, it will reach 9.6 billion.
India’s population is expected to surpass China’s around 2028 when both countries will have populations of around 1.45 billion, the report on “World Population Prospects.” While India’s population is forecast to grow to around 1.6 billion and then slowly decline to 1.5 billion in 2100, China’s is expected to start decreasing after 2030, possibly falling to 1.1 billion in 2100.
“By the end of the century, Nigeria could start to rival China as the second most populous country in the world,” the report said, forecasting Nigeria’s population at 913.8 million in 2100.
John Wilmoth, director of the Population Division in the UN’s Department of Economic and Social Affairs, which prepared the report, cautioned that “there is a great deal of uncertainty about population trends.”
“Trends and future population will be affected by the trajectories of its three major components — fertility, mortality and migration — but especially by the future course of fertility,” he said.
Fallen fertility rates
He said fertility has fallen rapidly, especially since the 1960s. The average number of children per woman has swiftly declined in several large countries, including China, India, Indonesia, Iran, Brazil and South Africa, leading to a reduction in population growth rates in much of the developing world.
But Wilmoth said the UN’s projections of future population have been revised upward from those issued two years ago, based mainly on recently available data on fertility levels.
In 15 high-fertility countries of sub-Saharan Africa, the estimated average number of children per woman has been adjusted upwards by more than five per cent, he said. These include Angola, Cameroon, Congo, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Niger and Nigeria.
The report said population in developing regions is projected to increase from 5.9 billion in 2013 to 8.2 billion in 2050.
During that same period, it said, the population of developed countries is expected to remain largely unchanged at around 1.3 billion people.
In Africa, the report said, the population could increase from 1.1 billion today to 2.4 billion in 2050 and potentially 4.2 billion by 2100.
Share Tools
Big Box Advertisement
Top News Headlines
- Senator Wallin says sorry for mistakes on travel claims Read 611 comments611
- Senator Pamela Wallin has broken her silence over the Senate expense claims scandal, saying in an exclusive interview Thursday with CBC’s Peter Mansbridge that she is sorry and that she takes responsibility for mistakes she made. more »
- Greg Weston: Harper finds changing channels hard amid bad news Read 26 comments26
- The Senate expenses scandal has left the Harper government understandably desperate to change the channel with new legislation, amendments to old laws, regulatory changes — anything to attract public attention away from so many politically damaging horror stories. more »
- Rob Ford knew men in photo, Toronto police sources say Read 488 comments488
- Toronto investigators knew about a relationship between Mayor Rob Ford and the men he is seen posing with in a widely publicized photo that has ties to his alleged drug use, police sources tell CBC News. Two of the men pictured with Ford were arrested yesterday in early-morning raids targeting guns and gangs. more »
- What we know about CSEC, Canada’s eavesdropping agency Read 10 comments10
- This week, many Canadians learned for the first time that a government agency is mining the metadata of electronic communications. CBC News takes a closer look at the activities of Canada’s Communications Security Establishment. more »
- Turkey activists weigh PM’s offer to suspend park development Read 0 comments0
- Activists leading a sit-in at an Istanbul park were considering a promise made by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in talks with activists overnight to let courts — and a potential referendum — decide about a park redevelopment project that has sparked Turkey’s biggest protests in decades. more »
Must Watch
-
Chemical weapons in Syria (graphic images)
3:17
U.S. intelligence says they have conclusive evidence that the Syrian regime used chemical weapons
-
Harper speaks in London
2:38
The Senate scandal followed the Prime Minister to the British Parliament, but he was there to talk free trade
-
‘Final warning’ in Turkey
3:24
Turkey’s prime minister issued what he called a ‘final warning’ for protesters to end their occupation of a park next to Istanbul’s landmark Taksim Square
-
CBC arrests in Turkey
9:08
Sasa Petricic recounts his arrest during his coverage of the protests in Turkey
Latest World News Headlines
- Obama to step up military support of Syrian rebels Read 241 comments241
- U.S. President Barack Obama has authorized sending weapons to Syrian rebels for the first time, U.S. officials said Thursday, after the White House disclosed that the United States has conclusive evidence Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government has used chemical weapons against opposition forces trying to overthrow him. more »
- Turkey activists weigh PM’s offer to suspend park development Read 0 comments0
- Activists leading a sit-in at an Istanbul park were considering a promise made by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in talks with activists overnight to let courts — and a potential referendum — decide about a park redevelopment project that has sparked Turkey’s biggest protests in decades. more »
- NSA leaker Snowden not welcome in U.K.
- The British government issues an alert to airlines around the world, urging them not to allow former U.S. intelligence contractor Edward Snowden to board flights to the United Kingdom. more »
- Iran’s Khamenei to U.S. election critics: ‘the hell with you’ Read 15 comments15
- Iran’s top leader has sharp words for U.S. critics of his country’s presidential election, which just got under way. more »
- E3 buzz suggests used-game market could be in peril Read 3 comments