World population set to cross 8-billion mark

World population set to cross 8-billion mark

Subject : Geography

Context-

• The number of human beings inhabiting the earth is set to cross the 8-billion mark today, November 15, 2022. The population growth has been led by Asian countries, especially India and China, in recent years.

Historical trend of Global Population-

• The global population hit the one billion mark in 1804. It took another 126 years to hit the second billion in 1930, and another 30 years to hit the third. The fourth billion just took 14 years, while the fifth billion was even faster at 13 years.
• In less than 100 years since 1930, the world population has grown four times and will cross 8 billion in a few hours.

Global Population growth rate-

• The annual population growth rate was the highest between 1963 and 1972, at over 2 per cent.
• The growth rate has declined since then and has fallen below 1 per cent since 2021.
• It is further projected to decline till 2050, according to World Bank data.

Population share-

• In 2022China and India account for over a third of the world’s population, with China‘s share at 18.2 per cent and India’s at 17.7 per cent.
• The US and Indonesia follow with 4.2 per cent and 3.5 per cent share of the global population.

Projected populations by 2050-

• This is expected to change by 2050, with India having the world’s highest population share at 16.8 per cent, while China’s population share would have declined by over 4.2 per cent.  
• India’s fast growing population will see it surpass China as the most populated country in the world in 2023. India is projected to add over 2.3 billion people by 2050, while China’s population is projected to shrink from 2030 onwards.
• The population of the US, Indonesia and Pakistan is also expected to grow with the addition of 41 million, 51 million and 108 million people, respectively, by 2050.

Median age-

While Asia has the largest share of the world’s population, Africa is home to the youngest population with a median age of just 20, and Europe has the oldest population with a median age of around 43. 

India’s Demography-

• Period of Stagnant population(1901-1921)
  • The census of 1921 recorded a negative growth rate of -0.31%, which happened only once throughout the demographic history of India, so the year 1921 is called the ‘Demographic Divide’ in the demographic history of India.
• Period of Steady Growth(1921-1951)
  • Population growth during this period is called the mortality induced growth.
• Period of Rapid High Growth(1951-81)
  • This period experienced very high rate of population growth and is often referred to as the Period of Population explosion.
• Period of High Growth Rate with definite signs of slowing down(1981-2011)

Spatio-Temporal Variations in Population growth-

• The phenomenon of low growth has spread beyond the boundaries of the southern states during 2001-11, where in addition to Andhra Pradesh, Tamilnadu and Karnataka in the south, Himachal Pradesh and Punjab in the north, West Bengal and Odisha in the east and Maharashtra in the west have registered growth rate between 11-16% in 2001-11
• Among smaller states and Union territories, Dadar and Nagar Haveli, Daman & Diu registered the highest growth rate of 55.5% and 53.54% respectively, between 2001-11
• A glaring down trend in the growth rate has been observed in Nagaland, where there has been a steep fall in growth rate from 64.53% in 1991-2001, to negative growth rate of -0.47% in 2011 census
• The second minimum growth rate of 4.86% has been recorded in Kerala
  • This state has reached high level of demographic transition and can be compare to the advanced countries of Europe and America
• States which have registered very high growth rate of over 20% include – Bihar (25%), Jammu & Kashmir(23%), Chhattisgarh(22%) and Jharkhand(22%)
• Other small states with higher growth rate are Meghalaya (27%) and Arunachal Pradesh (25%)