Daily Mail

Population of world to hit 9.7billion by year 2050

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THE population of the world will hit 9.7billion by 2050 – with most of the growth driven by the poorest nations.

An extra 2.4billion people will be born over the coming 35 years, a UN report said.

By 2100, the global population is set to reach 11.2billion. More than half of the increase will come from Africa, due to the higher birthrate, though India will become the most populous country, surpassing China.

The UK will see a significan­t rise too – by 2050 our population will be 75.3million, up from 64.7million today. By 2100 there will be 82.3million living in Britain.

The UN report, the 2015 Revision of World Population Prospects, which was released yesterday, said that the demographi­c changes will present world leaders with major challenges.

Over the next 35 years, half of the population growth will be concentrat­ed in nine countries: India, Nigeria, Pakistan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Tanzania, the US, Indonesia and Uganda.

India will surpass China as the country with the greatest population around 2022.

However, there are several countries facing the opposite problem – a population decline.

By 2050 there will be a decrease in the number of residents of 1.5 per cent or more in 11 countries, including Japan, Ukraine, Hungary, Serbia and Latvia.

The report also sounded a warning about ageing in the UK, saying that by 2050 the number of Britons aged 80 or older will increase from 4 per cent to 9 per cent.

The number of over-60s will go up from 23 per cent to 30 per cent over the same period. At the same time longevity will go up and the average person in the UK will live to 85.6 years, compared with 80.4 now.

There will be a similar trend across the rest of the world, the report said.

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