Could you imagine a world population of 11-13 billion? Apparently, the United Nations can. In a report released on Monday, the United Nations predicted that by the year 2100, the world’s population could potentially be nearly double of what it is today, reaching up to about 13.3 billion people.
Growth in the Least Expected Place
According to the United Nations 2015 World Population Prospects Report, the population of the United States is expected to rise from 322 million people to 450 million people, an increase of 40 percent.
The population of Asia is forecasted to rise from 4.4 billion, its current population, to 5.3 billion by 2050, before falling back down to 4.9 billion by the end of the century.
When one thinks about Africa, it’s hard to imagine that any substantial population growth could occur there. However, according to the United Nations, the African continent is where the largest contribution to the world population will be. The UN figures estimate that the population of Africa will grow from its current total of about 1.2 billion people to about 5.6 billion people by the year 2100, making the biggest jump of any country towards the growing world population.
Aging Populations Will Slow Down Population Growth
Also part of the report from the United Nations was the potential support ratio (PSR) of each country, which is arrived at by dividing the number of people aged 20 to 64 by the number of people aged 65 and over. This is an important figure because it is considered to be the number of working members of society per retiree.
The United States is projected to have a PSR decline from its current figure of 4.0 down to 1.9 by the end of the century. Germany is expected to decline from 2.9 to 1.4. China, which currently has a number of 7.1, is set to decline to 1.4. Bangladesh, which currently has an even higher number than China, 11.2, is projected to decline all the way down to 1.6.
In keeping with the estimate that the continent of Africa will be the biggest contributor to the colossal growth in world population by the end of the century, African countries have PSR figures that are set to increase. In fact, by 2100, only five countries are expected to have a PSR over 5.0: Gambia, Angola, Somalia, Niger, and Nigeria, with Niger expected to have the highest number of all, 6.5.
The Implications of the World Population Report
Because rapid population growth in countries with high fertility rates can cause a plethora of problems and exacerbate many of the existing problems, on the economic, environmental, social, governmental and health levels, it is important for countries to develop reasonable policies to address these areas before such a huge boom occurs in the world population.
On the other hand, countries that are still developing and have large numbers of young people but low fertility rates need to develop policies that invest benefits into the older population, such as social security and pension plans.
With the release of this latest report from the United Nations, it is crucial for the governments of the world to start to seriously plan for the future and take into consideration the projected boom in the world population numbers, in terms of how to create a sustainable society depending on the specific demographics within each country.
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UN Predicts World Population of 13 Billion by 2100
