A new UN report predicts that the world’s population will surge past 10.1 billion by the end of the century, a forecast that would shatter earlier estimates that the number would stabilize at about 9 billion by mid-century. Much of the population growth will occur in so-called “high fertility” countries — where each woman is having, on average, more than 1.5 daughters — in Africa, Asia, Oceania and Latin America, according to the report. While populations in low- and intermediate-fertility nations are expected to peak before the end of the century, the population in high-fertility nations will continue to increase. In Africa, where growth already threatens to overwhelm over-stretched food and water resources, the population could more than triple, from about 1 billion today to more than 3.6 billion. World population is expected to pass 7 billion later this year. The report, prepared by the UN’s Population Division, projects that there will be 9.3 billion people by mid-century, which is 156 million more than the group predicted in a 2008 report. Projections have increased because fertility has not declined as rapidly as expected in poorer countries and has increased slightly in wealthier nations.
World Population to Pass 10.1 Billion By Century’s End, UN Says
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