NEW DELHI: India is likely to surpass China next year as the world’s largest populous country, claimed by United Nations on Monday which said that the world population will reach 8 billion by mid-November 2022.
The United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division said that the global population is projected to reach eight billion on November 15, 2022.
According to the report, the population of India in 2022 is 1.412 billion, while that of China is 1.426 billion. It is estimated that India will have a population of 1.668 billion in 2050, much higher than China’s 1.317 billion people by the middle of the century.
The UN said, world’s population is growing at its slowest pace since 1950. It should hit 8.5 billion in 2030 and 9.7 billion in 2050, peaking at around 10.4 billion people in the 2080s.
The report said, while a net drop in birth rates is observed in several developing countries, more than half of the rise forecast in the world’s population in the coming decades will be concentrated in eight countries of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines, and Tanzania.
Most of the increased population in these areas
The two most populous regions of the world in 2022 are East and South-East Asia. It is home to 2.3 billion people, which is 29 percent of the global population. At the same time, the population of Central and Southern Asia is 2.1 billion, which is 26 percent of the total world population. China and India account for the largest populations in these regions with a population of 1.4 billion in 2022.
Earth’s eight billionth inhabitant expected to be born
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said, “This year’s World Population Day (July 11) is a milestone, when we expect the birth of Earth’s eight billionth inhabitant. It is an opportunity to celebrate our diversity. The average life expectancy of people in the U.S. has increased and child mortality has decreased. At the same time it needs to be remembered that taking care of this planet is the responsibility of all of us.”