The world is counting down to 8 billion people

Planet Earth is about to countdown to reach 8 billion human milestones – when reached, this should mark a new chapter for humanity, which has never been more. On Friday (11), there are already more than 7,999,350,000 people alive, according to data from the platform. world scaleupdated in real time.

When we reach 8 billion people, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said this would be an occasion to “celebrate our diversity, recognize our common humanity, and admire the advances in health that have prolonged life and dramatically reduced maternal and infant mortality.”

On the other hand, Guterres notes that this achievement is also “a reminder of our shared responsibility to take care of our planet and a time to reflect on the fact that we still fall short in our obligations to one another.”

8 billion people on this planet

Officially, the United Nations estimates that the planet will reach 8 billion people next Tuesday (15), when World Population Day is celebrated. However, since this is a purely statistical issue, it is very likely that this record will be beaten a few days or hours earlier than expected.

Prospects for world population growth

Despite close to 8 billion people, the pace of global population growth has been slower since 1950. Specifically in 2020, it decreased by 1% as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and There are no vaccines that can protect humanity.

Today, growth is already starting to pick up again. Among the fastest growing countries is India. For the first time, the number of Indians is expected to exceed the population of China, which until then was considered the most populous country in the world, in 2023.

to me World Population Prospects 2022, the world is expected to be inhabited by 8.5 billion people in 2030. By 2050, this number is expected to rise to 9.7 billion. The world’s population peak is expected to occur in the 1980s, when 10.4 billion people are alive. This population should be maintained at least until the year 2100.

Why is the world population increasing?

When we look at some European countries or Japan, for example, the impression is that the population is only getting older. Yes this is a fact Between 2022 and 2050, the United Nations estimates that 61 countries or autonomous regions will lose at least 1% of their local population. But this fact is far from being the norm for the world.

By 2050, the United Nations also estimates that more than half of the projected increase in the world’s population will be concentrated in eight countries:

• Democratic Republic of the Congo;
• Egypt;
• Ethiopia;
• India;
• Nigeria;
• Pakistan ;
• Filipino;
• United Republic of Tanzania.

Another phenomenon that helps explain why the world’s population continues to grow is the advancement of medicine and an increase in life expectancy. After overcoming the challenge posed by the Covid-19 virus, the appreciation was that Older people are becoming increasingly long-lived🇧🇷

In this scenario, the proportion of the world’s population aged 65 and over is expected to increase from 10% in 2022 to 16% in 2050. In this way, the number of people aged 65 and over will be worldwide, and for the first time more It is twice the number of children under the age of five and almost the same as the number of children under the age of 12, according to the United Nations.

source: United nations And the world scale