The globe is expected to surpass a significant milestone today when the population reaches 8 billion, according to UN predictions published in July of this year.
The annual World Population Prospect also observed that, having decreased to less than 1% in 2020, the rate of population growth worldwide is at its lowest level since 1950.
In the past 12 years, India has made the biggest contribution toward pushing the world population from 7 billion to 8 billion.
United Nations Population Fund said that Asia and Africa drove much of that growth and is expected to drive the next billion, while Europe’s contribution will be negative due to declining population.
“India, the largest contributor to the 8 billion, will surpass China, which was the second largest contributor and whose contribution to the next billion will be negative, as the world’s most populous nation by 2023,” the UN sexual and reproductive health agency said.
In 1960, there were 3 billion people on the planet. This number increased to 4 billion in 1975, 5 billion in 1987, 6 billion in 1999, and 7 billion in 2011. According to UN predictions, it will take the population about 15 years to reach 9 billion people.
It is anticipated that the world population will reach a peak of roughly 10.4 billion people during the 2080s and then remain there until 2100, expanding at its slowest rate since World War II.
The population of just eight nations—Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines, and Tanzania—will expand by more than half by the year 2050. Many of the 46 least developed nations are anticipated to see population growth rates among the fastest in the world between 2022 and 2050.
In 2023, India is anticipated to overtake China as the world’s most populated nation, according to United Nations estimates.