The World's population willl reach 9.8 billion by 2050

In brief

According to the Population Reference Bureau's 2017 World Population Data Sheet, Earth will be home to 9.8 billion people by 2050. This represents an increase of 31 percent in just 33 years, and it raises existing concerns about the threat of overpopulation.

Billions and billions

The Population Reference Bureau has issued their 2017 World Population Data Sheet, and it asserts that the global population will reach 9.8 billion by 2050. That’s an increase of 31 percent on the estimated 7.5 billion people that live on Earth today.

Africa’s population is expected to swell to 2.6 billion by 2050 — more than double the current figure — comprising 57 percent of the global population increase from now until then. The population of Asia will grow by 750 million to reach 5.2 billion, while the population of the Americas will increase from 1 billion to 1.2 billion.

India is set to supplant China as the world’s most populous country, increasing to 1.7 billion people from 1.35 billion. The nation is expected to record the largest population increase of any single country over the next 33 years.

Meanwhile, Europe’s population (including all of Russia) will see a slight decline, shrinking to 736 million from 745 million.

Source: prnewswire.com, prb.com