Population

WHAT'S NEXT?: The global population is expected to reach 8.5 billion in 2030, up 1 billion from 2016. Western economies are declining in numbers and emerging economies witnessing burgeoning growth.

• [New] In 2018, the urbanized population was 4.2 billion people (55% of the world's population) and by 2050, it is expected to rise to 6.5 billion people (66% of the world's population.
• [New] Nearly all global population growth from 2017 to 2030 will be by cities, about 1.1 billion new urbanites over the next 10 years.
• [New] Smart cities are more than a trend as the world is becoming more urban with 60% of the population expected to live in cities by 2050.
• [New] India's food production needs to be increased substantially in the coming decades due to an expected population growth up to more than 1.6 billion in 2050 along with changing dietary preferences like a higher demand for animal-sourced products.
• [New] By 2025, around 71 percent of the world's population is expected to be connected.
• Over the next 20 years, Ontario's population growth will average 1.1 per cent annually, compared to average annual growth of 1.5 per cent over the past 20 years.
• More than two billion people globally use a drinking water source contaminated with faeces, and by 2025, half of the world's population could be living in water-stressed areas.
• Nearly 60 percent of the world's population is already online, and the latest trends suggest that more than half of the world's total population will use social media by the middle of this year.
• The U.S. population is projected to grow by approximately 79 million people by the year 2060 - another factor for recent healthcare economic growth.
• Virtually all of the expected growth in the world population will be concentrated in cities of developing countries whose population is projected to increase from 2.7 billion in 2011 to 5.1 billion in 2050.
• Over half of the world's population lives in urban areas today, and that trend is expected to increase in coming decades.
• Africa holds 60 percent of the world's uncultivated arable land and is comprised of five of the nine countries that will experience half of the world's population growth by 2050.
• 2 oc of global warming adds around half a billion people to the at-risk population with the World Bank anticipating a 50% higher probability of malaria transmission in many previously unexposed regions by 2050.
• Zimbabwe's youthful population will continue to constrain economic growth rates and pose a significant challenge to political stability for the next 15 to 20 years.
• By 2050 the world's population will increase by two or three billion, which will likely double the demand for food.
• India is expected to add nearly 273 million people between 2019 and 2050, while the population of Nigeria is projected to grow by 200 million.
• Since 70% of the world's population is expected to live in urban areas by 2050, the smart city use cases will have a higher chance of success.
• 2 o c of global warming adds around half a billion people to the at-risk population with the World Bank anticipating a 50% higher probability of malaria transmission in many previously unexposed regions by 2050.
• The demand for protein, including seafood, will increase as the global population is expected to rise to almost 10 billion by 2050.
• The World Health Organization (WHO) predicts that by 2050, the proportion of the world's population over 60 years will reach 22%, which, in absolute number, will hit 2 billion.
• Energy demand is expected to grow even further - by over 25% by 2040-driven by population growth, increasing incomes and urbanization: in developing economies, 1.7 billion people are expected to move to urban areas in the next two decades.
• China, India and Sub-Saharan Africa are expected to drive around half of the world's annual population increase.
• 2020 will be a milestone year for the global economy where the majority of the world's population is middle class or above.

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Last updated: 13 February 2020