World Population, Population Growth, Population Statistics, Country Population

By: EconomyWatch   Date: 30 June 2010

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The world population reached the six billion mark in 1999. It is quite amazing to note that humans took a century to increase their headcount from one million to two million. Another 30 years, from 1930-1960, to become three billion, just 15 years to reach four billion, and twelve years for the five billion benchmark. Experts estimate that given the current trends, the world population will hit the seven billion mark by 2010.

Understanding World Population Trends

The world population figure provides an estimate of the total number of people living on the Earth at a given period of time. The phenomenon of high birth rates, coupled with a declining death rate, resulted in tremendous population growth in the 20th century. Growth in developing nations acted as a catalyst to this trend. India and China, which house almost 36% of the world population, are the finest examples of growing population in the developing world.

According to the 2008 data, the distribution of the world population among different regions was as follows:

  • World – 6,707 millions
  • Africa – 973 millions
  • Asia – 4,054 millions
  • Europe - 732 millions
  • North America – 337 millions
  • Latin America and the Caribbean - 577 millions
  • Oceania - 34 millions


World Population: Future Estimates

Since the start of the 21st century, the world population added approximately 80 million people every year. The population growth rate has declined since the last quarter of the 20th century by above 2%. However, experts forecast that a further decline will occur only after 2015. If the population continues to grow at this rate, it is expected that the human population will reach 8.9 billion by 2050.

Experts also highlight that population growth in developing nations would significantly determine the world population by the middle of this century. However, the population rate of developed nations is expected to drop substantially in the coming decades. There will be five Asian nations (India, China, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Indonesia) that will account a major part of the world population figures by 2050. The US, Nigeria, Ethiopia and Iran will also contribute their share.

Analysts predict that India is expected to soon outnumber China to attain of the status of the country with the highest population.


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