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According to the report, India’s population stands at 1.412 billion in 2022, compared to China’s 1.426 billion

Highlights:

Findings of the report:

• India is projected to surpass China as the world’s most populous country next year, according to a report by the United Nations.
• The World Population Prospects 2022 by 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.
• The global population is growing at its slowest rate since 1950, having fallen under 1% in 2020.
• The latest projections by the United Nations suggest that the world’s population could grow to around 8.5 billion in 2030 and 9.7 billion in 2050.
• It is projected to reach a peak of around 10.4 billion people during the 2080s and to remain at that level until 2100.
• The world’s two most populous regions in 2022 were Eastern and South-Eastern Asia, with 2.3 billion people, representing 29% of the global population, and Central and Southern Asia, with 2.1 billion, representing 26% of the total world population.
• China and India accounted for the largest populations in these regions, with more than 1.4 billion each in 2022.
• More than half of the projected increase in global population up to 2050 will be concentrated in just eight countries of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines and Tanzania.
• “Disparate population growth rates among the world’s largest countries will change their ranking by size: for example, India is projected to surpass China as the world’s most populous country in 2023,” the report said.
• The report added that it is estimated that ten countries experienced a net outflow of more than 1 million migrants between 2010 and 2021.
• In many of these countries, these outflows were due to temporary labour movements, such as for Pakistan (net outflow of -16.5 million during 2010-2021), India (-3.5 million), Bangladesh (-2.9 million), Nepal (-1.6 million) and Sri Lanka (-1 million).
• In other countries, including the Syrian Arab Republic (-4.6 million), Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of) (-4.8 million), and Myanmar (-1 million), insecurity and conflicts have driven the net outflow of migrants over the decade.
• Global life expectancy at birth reached 72.8 years in 2019, an improvement of almost 9 years since 1990. Further reductions in mortality are projected to result in an average global longevity of around 77.2 years in 2050.
• Yet in 2021, life expectancy for the least developed countries lagged seven years behind the global average.
• Alternative long-term population projections have also been undertaken by the Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME).
• In its recent projections, IHME projected that the global population will reach 8.8 billion in 2100 with a range of 6.8 billion to 11.8 billion.

World Population Day

• World Population Day, which seeks to focus attention on the urgency and importance of population issues, was established by the then-Governing Council of the United Nations Development Programme in 1989, an outgrowth of the interest generated by the Day of Five Billion, which was observed on 11 July 1987.
• By resolution 45/216 of December 1990, the United Nations General Assembly decided to continue observing World Population Day to enhance awareness of population issues, including their relations to the environment and development.
• The Day was first marked on 11 July 1990 in more than 90 countries. Since then, a number of a number of UNFPA country offices and other organizations and institutions commemorate World Population Day, in partnership with governments and civil society.

• The theme of this year’s World Population Day was — ‘A World of 8 billion: Towards a Resilient Future for All — Harnessing Opportunities and Ensuring Rights and Choices for All