A United Nations report released on Monday predicted that India would overtake China as the world’s most populated nation in 2023, with each nation having more than 1.4 billion people as of this year. The report also warned that increasing fertility would pose a threat to economic growth.
According to a report released on Globe Population Day, the population of the world, which is projected to reach 8 billion by November 15 of this year, might increase to 8.5 billion in 2030 and 10.4 billion in 2100 as the rate of mortality slows.
In 2011, 1.21 billion people called India home, according to the country’s ten-year-old domestic census. The Covid-19 outbreak had forced the authorities to postpone the 2021 census.
According to UN estimates, global population growth had slowed to its lowest level since 1950 and was projected to reach 1% in 2020.
The average fertility rate for the entire world’s population in 2021 was 2.3 births per woman over her lifetime, down from over 5 in 1950. By 2050, it is predicted that global fertility would have further decreased to 2.1 births per woman.
In a statement, UN Secretary-General António Guterres stated, “This is a time to celebrate our variety, recognize our shared humanity, and marvel at advances in health that have extended lifespans and significantly lowered maternal and child death rates.”
However, he said that a growing population served as a reminder of a shared duty to protect the environment and to “reflect on where we still fall short of our responsibilities to one another.”
The UN research stated that the Covid-19 pandemic, which is estimated to have killed around 14.9 million people between January 2020 and December 2021, was mostly to blame for the decline in the world’s life expectancy at birth, which dropped from 72.8 years in 2019 to 71 years in 2021.
According to the United Nations, eight nations — the Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines, and the United Republic of Tanzania — would account for more than half of the expected rise in the world’s population up to 2050.
More than half of the increase forecast through 2050 is anticipated to come from sub-Saharan African nations.
However, a decline in fertility is expected to lead to a population decline of 1% or more in 61 nations between 2022 and 2050.
