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UN releases World Population Prospects (WPP)

  • Posted By
    10Pointer
  • Categories
    World Affairs
  • Published
    13th Jul, 2022

Context

Recently, the United Nations has released the 2022 edition of the World Population Prospects (WPP).

About World Population Prospects (WPP) 

  • The Population Division of the UN has been publishing the WPP in a biennial cycle since 1951.
  • Each revision of the WPP provides a historical time series of population indicators starting in 1950.
  • It does so by taking into account newly released national data to revise estimates of past trends in fertility, mortality or international migration.

Key-points for the global population

  • Slow pace of growth
    • The world’s population continues to grow, but the pace of growth is slowing down.
    • The global population is expected to grow to around 8.5 billion in 2030, 9.7 billion in 2050 and 10.4 billion in 2100.
    • In 2020, the global growth rate fell under 1% per year for the first time since 1950.
  • Region-wise differential
    • Rates of population growth vary significantly across countries and regions.
    • More than half of the projected increase in global population up to 2050 will be concentrated in just eight countries- Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines and Tanzania.
    • Disparate growth rates among the world’s largest countries will re-order their ranking by size.
  • Ageing population
    • The population of older persons is increasing both in numbers and as a share of the total.
    • The share of the global population aged 65 years or above is projected to rise from 10% in 2022 to 16% in 2050.
    • The report suggests measures for ageing population by improving the sustainability of social security and pension systems and by establishing universal health care and long-term care systems.
  • Decline in fertility rate
    • A sustained drop in fertility has led to an increased concentration of the population at working ages (between 25 and 64 years), creating an opportunity for accelerated economic growth per capita.
    • This shift in the age distribution provides a time-bound opportunity for accelerated economic growth known as the “demographic dividend”.
  • International migration
    • This is having important impacts on population trends for some countries.
    • For high-income countries between 2000 and 2020, the contribution of international migration to population growth (net inflow of 80.5 million) exceeded the balance of births over deaths (66.2 million).
    • Over the next few decades, migration will be the sole driver of population growth in high-income countries.
    • In many of these countries, the outflows were due to temporary labour movements, such as for Pakistan (net flow of -16.5 million), India (-3.5 million), Bangladesh (-2.9 million), Nepal (-1.6 million) etc.

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