India will become the most populous country by 2028, and the current world population of 7.2 billion is projected to increase by almost one billion people within the next twelve years, reaching 8.1 billion in 2025 and 9.6 billion in 2050, states a UN report.
The UN report titled ‘World Population Prospects’ was released on Thursday, it states the population of India is expected to surpass that of China around 2028, when both countries would have populations of around 1.45 billion. Most of the population growth will occur in the developing regions, which are projected to increase from 5.9 billion in 2013 to 8.2 billion in 2050. During the same period, the population of developed regions will remain largely unchanged at 1.3 billion people. Growth is expected to be most rapid in the 49 least-developed countries, which are projected to double in size from around 900 million inhabitants in 2013 to 1.8 billion in 2050, the report states, states the report.
The report further states that Europe shrinking beyond Africa, the population of the rest of the world is expected to grow by just over 10 per cent between 2013 and 2100, with Europe’s population projected to decline by 14 per cent.
Fertility in almost all the European countries is now below the level required for full replacement of the population in the long run (around 2.1 children per woman on average). Fertility for Europe, as a whole, is projected to increase from 1.5 children per woman in 2005-2010 to 1.8 in 2045-2050 and to 1.9 by 2095-2100.
Despite this increase, childbearing in low-fertility countries is expected to remain below the replacement level, leading to a likely contraction of total population size.
According to the report, Africa growing rapidly more than half of global population growth between now and 2050 is expected to occur in Africa.
According to the report, medium-variant projection, the population of Africa could more than double by mid-century, increasing from 1.1 billion today to 2.4 billion in 2050, and potentially reaching 4.2 billion by 2100.