Reading UN population report

Reading UN population report

Subject: IR

Context:

Context:The World Population Prospects 2022 has projected that India will surpass China as the world’s most populous country in 2023, while the global population will reach 8 billion this year.

What is the WPP?

• The Population Division of the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairshas been publishing the WPP in a biennial cycle since 1951.
• Each revision of the WPP provides a historical time series of population indicators starting in 1950. It does so by taking into account newly released national data to revise estimates of Past trends in fertility, mortality or international migration.

Key takeaways from the report:

• The global population is expected to grow to around 8.5 billion in 2030, 9.7 billion In 2050 and 10.4 billion in 2100.
• More than half of the projected increase in global population up to 2050 will be concentrated in just eight countries: the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines and the United Republic of Tanzania.
• The population of older persons is increasing both in numbers and as a share of the total. The share of the global population aged 65 years or above is projected to rise from 10% in 2022 to 16% in 2050.
• Sustained drop in fertility has led to an increased concentration of the Population at working ages (between 25 and 64 years), creating an opportunity for accelerated economic growth per capita. This shift in the age distribution provides a time bound opportunity for accelerated economic growth known as the “demographic dividend”.
• For high-income countries between 2000 and 2020, the contribution of international migration to population growth (net inflow of 80.5 million) exceeded the balance of births over deaths (66.2 million. Over the next few decades, migration will be the sole driver of population growth in high-income countries.