World’s population will increase to 9.7 billion in 2050-UN

According to the UN, the world’s population will cross the 11 billion mark by the century end, with Africa contributing substantially to the growth due to high fertility rates

The world population will increase from 7.3 billion people to 9.7 billion by 2050, as per the recent data analysis by the UN (UN report). Predicting almost no end to the growth in the population, the total figure will cross the 11 billion mark by the century’s end.

The continent of Asia is currently the most populated with 4.4 billion people, and will continue to remain so, with its population expected to peak around the middle of the century at 5.3 billion and then to decline to around 4.9 billion people by the end of the century.

India should be investing some its demographic dividend by giving more attention to the older generation, as they will form a major chunk of our population in the due course of time. More investment is required by India, China, and Brazil towards the older generation as social security, pensions and health care, implied John R Wilmoth, director of the United Nations' (UN) Population Division.

As further reported by PTI

"The probability that world population growth will end within this century to be 23 percent," he added while addressing a session focused on demographic forecasting at the "2015 Joint Statistical Meetings" (JSM 2015) in Seattle on August 10.

The world population growth will not stop in this century unless there are unprecedented fertility declines in those parts of sub-Saharan Africa that are still experiencing rapid population growth.

According to models of demographic change derived from historical experience, it is estimated the global population will be between 9.5 and 13.3 billion people in 2100.

The primary driver of global population growth is a projected increase in the population of Africa.

The continent's current population of 1.2 billion people is expected to rise to between 3.4 billion and 5.6 billion people by the end of this century.

"The continent's population growth is due to persistent high levels of fertility and the recent slowdown in the rate of fertility decline," Wilmoth noted.

The total fertility rate (TFR) has been declining in Africa over the past decade, but has been doing so at roughly one-quarter of the rate at which it declined in Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean in the 1970s.

The results have important policy implications for governments across the globe.

"Rapid population growth in high-fertility countries can exacerbate a range of existing problems - environmental, health, economic, governmental and social," said Wilmoth.