On Tuesday, November 15, the United Nations announced that over eight billion people are officially living on Planet Earth. The population is growing more in third-world countries. Countries with young, poor, or increasing pensioners face the issue of what resources will feed the growing humanity. However, according to estimates, the trend should slow down.
When will Population Growth Stop?
However, world population growth will slow. Humanity went from seven to eight billion in about eleven years. According to current projections, eight to nine billion will take fifteen years, and the population will reach this limit in 2037. World population growth is expected to stop at 10.4 billion people around 2080.
The population growth rate began to decline globally in the 1980s and 1990s. In the 1960s, the average increase in world population was two percent. In the last decade, it was 1.2 percent. In the previous two years, it has been only 0.8 percent.
In most countries, the birth rate will be below 2.1 children per mother, which is necessary to maintain the population, demographers say. However, South Korea’s birth rate fell to a record low of 0.81 children per mother.
The Humanity in Third-world Countries Is Increasing
There is now roughly four times the world’s population than fifty years ago. According to the UN, the most people will continue to increase in Africa and South Asia, specifically in eight developing countries where the population is growing rapidly: Egypt, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Pakistan, India, and the Philippines.
In the rest of the world, the pace is already slower. Europe, Russia, and China are currently wondering who will take care of the large group of retirees. Congo or India will fight the poverty of young people. As the population grows, so does unemployment, especially in the world’s densely populated metropolises. For example, in the capital of India, New Delhi, there are at least a hundred applicants for every vacancy.
More people worldwide doesn’t mean less death; there is a lower infant mortality rate. Medicine can cure diseases that it could not heal before. Advances in medicine, occupational care, improving economic conditions, and decreasing infant mortality ensure population growth on Earth. At the same time, it can mean certain environmental risks for the Planet.
Source: bbc.com, featured photo byRyoji Iwata on Unsplash
