The division’s “World Population Prospects” report (2015 revision) explains, for example, that “the concentration of population growth in the poorest countries will make it harder for those governments to eradicate poverty and inequality, combat hunger and malnutrition, expand education enrollment and health systems, improve the provision of basic services and implement other elements of a sustainable development agenda to ensure that no-one is left behind.”
According to the report, Africa will account for more than half of the world’s projected population growth through 2050, with the continent producing 1.3 billion of the 2.4 billion people expected to be added by mid-century. The continent is also the only major area where significant population growth is predicted to continue beyond 2050. Its share of the global population will rise over the next several decades while that of Asia—the most populous continent—declines.
India will become the world’s most populous country, the U.N. predicts, passing China in the early 2020s. Likewise, the division predicts that Nigeria’s population will surpass that of the U.S. by roughly 2050, making it the world’s third most populous country. The U.S. is projected to add an average of 1.5 million people per year to reach 450 million by the end of the century.
In contrast, several countries’ populations are expected to shrink by 15 percent or more by mid-century: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, the Republic of Moldova, Romania, Serbia and Ukraine.
(Source: Balkans)
