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Thought for the day
8 Billion
The World’s Population Today?
Last updated: 3 July 2024
The World's population is estimated by the United Nations Population Prospects database to have reached 8 billion people, and to be on target for 9 billion in 15 years, and 10 billion in 50 years-time.
Has the world's population really grown from 3 billion in the 1960's to 8 billion?
Population in Billions
Data: UN Population Prospects Database, Median Total Population.
These numbers have been presented by the media as factual. For example, the Financial Times report said "
The world’s population reaches 8bn people on Tuesday and will hit 9bn in 15 years as it experiences an unprecedented surge in the number of older people, according to the latest UN data.
".
In reality "estimated" is the crucial word. These numbers can only be rough estimates, when a significant proportion of countries have out of date census records, and many others fail to register more than a fraction of births (see
World Economics Population Data Quality Estimates
).
For example, in populous Bangladesh 44% of births go unrecorded, in Pakistan 58% and in Nigeria 58% . Even in India over 11% of births go unrecorded.
Calculating world population accurately on the basis of such numbers can only be fraught with difficulty. And in 1960, when statistical records were far less reliable (see Morten Jerven's book "
Poor Numbers
" published relatively recently in 2013), probably close to pure guesswork.
Read here:
World Economics Population Data quality Ratings
for more information.
More perspectives using World Economics data
Dire Demographics across the Americas
The Americas have seen some of the sharpest downturns in fertility rates globally from 1970 to the present. The rate in Mexico, Chile and Jamaica, for example, has fallen threefold across that period and is now below the replacement threshold. Most countries across the Americas are now also below the replacement threshold. This means population growth will stagnate creating, in turn, more elderly demo...
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The Places that Matter
Four areas of the world are now far ahead of all other places in both economic and political terms. They are China; the EU (although not a country it is a political and economic entity with many of the characteristics of a country); the USA and India. This list is in order of GDP size, calculated in Purchasing Power Parity terms with additional estimates for their Informal economies and for the age of...
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Poor Governance in the Global South
The Global South does not shine as a beacon of Good Governance. In the World Economics Global Governance rankings, the South registers badly, with only two countries (out of 99) rated A grade, only 14 countries rated as B Grade, and 54 rated D (poor) or E grade (pretty awful). The Global Governance Index combines the results of the independently generated Rule of Law Index (1); Press Freedom Index (...
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