A number to be reckoned with ?!

World population to hit 9.2 billion in 2050: UN

According to the 2006 revision of the official UN population estimates and projections, the world's populations should increase by 2.5 billion people over the next 43 years from its current level of 6.7 billion.


That increase, equal to the global population in 1950, would occur mainly in the less developed countries, where the combined population was forecast to rise from 5.4 billion in 2007 to 7.9 billion in 2050. At the same time, the population in the rich countries was expected to remain stable, at about 1.2 billion. It would even decline if it were not for the expected immigration of people from poorer countries, estimated at 2.3 million people a year. Under the combined effect of falling fertility and rising longevity, the populations of more and more countries are graying: half of the world's population growth by 2050 is expected to result from an increase in the number of people aged 60 and over. The 6.7 billion world population mark likely will be reached by July, which represents since 2000 an annual increase of 78 million people. Based on a continuation of a decline in fertility -- and eventually the number of children, the global population will increase at most by 30 million people a year until 2050, the UN said. © 2007 AFP