World

Charts and maps explain how the world reached 8 billion people

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We are 8 billion people on the planet.

The UN projects that this Tuesday (15) the world will complete a new billion inhabitants. The historic mark comes amid an average population growth much lower than that observed in past decades and the improvement of important socioeconomic indicators.

Looking at overpopulation on the world map, however, lets you see a tangle of differences.

THE Sheet prepared a series of graphs and maps on the subject.

The evolution of the global population

Until now, the evolution of the number of people has been accelerated. It took 121 years for the world to go from 1 billion to 2 billion, and only 35 years for us to reach 3 billion. Since then, each new billion has been completed, on average, every 12 years.

The weight of each country in the overpopulation

The weight of countries in the global population has changed considerably. 50 years ago, China already ruled as the most populous nation. Countries like Germany and Japan, which at the time made up the group of the ten most populous, however, said goodbye to the ranking.

Brazil, coincidentally, maintains the position it occupied five decades ago, but has fluctuated in the meantime — sometimes fifth, sometimes sixth on the list. The estimated 215.8 million people make it the seventh most populated country in the world today, and 50 years from now, in 2073, the country is expected to drop to ninth place.

There are countries, concentrated in the Global South, that are still challenged by the “boom” of their populations. The factor is largely due to high fertility rates (an index that calculates the average number of children per woman).

The UN calculates that by 2050, almost all of the global increase in the number of children, young people and adults up to 65 years of age will be concentrated in low- and middle-income countries, fueling already evident inequalities.

The participation of each region

Asia and Africa are the most populated regions. The first is home to the two most populous countries in the world — China and India. The second, in addition to its territorial extension, is home to nations with high fertility rates.

The gender and age profile

The world will have, on average, an increasingly older population — which, in part, is the result of the increase in life expectancy, which is now 73 years old. 50 years ago, people over 50 years old represented 15.4% of the population. Today, it’s 25%. And five decades from now, it will be 38%.

When it comes to gender, the evolution has always been similar: the number of women and men is almost the same.

The average annual growth

In the 1960s, the world reached an average annual population growth rate of over 2%. That number has been falling — in 2020, it was below 1% for the first time. The figure will fall below zero in the 2080s, when the population declines, according to the UN.

where so many people fit

The Cases of the War in Ukraine and Nigeria

Diving into the projections of the global population allows us to observe curious cases – some, by the way, that show concern.

The Ukrainian War, which started after the Russian invasion in February, catapulted a demographic crisis in the two countries, which had already started after the collapse of the Soviet Union in the 1990s.

The case of Nigeria, a country on the west coast of Africa, has attracted the attention of demographers. The country is growing fast, but it does not have indicators that guarantee quality of life for this population.

How was the world and Brazil every billion

Population income and geographic profile

As is already the case today, the projection is that the middle and low-income portion of the population will continue to predominate in the coming decades. The increase in longevity on the planet, by the way, will outline a world in which older people have to retire later and later in a more unequal scenario in the comparison between countries.

Of every 8 inhabitants on the planet, 1 now lives in slums or inadequate housing. Most of the global population lives in urban areas, but there are big differences between regions of the globe.

What political regimes do these people live in?

Seven out of ten people on the planet, or 5.7 billion, live in regimes that are not democratic — electoral autocracies or dictatorships. The scenario is part of what experts have called the third wave of authoritarianism in the world and is linked to the fact that there are many overpopulated countries, such as China and India, that are autocracies today.

The religious profile of the overpopulation

Defying predictions about mass secularization, projections show that the world is tending to become more religious. Islam will grow faster than any other major religion.

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