Global Population Shifts By the Year 2100 →

Ana Swanson at the Washington Post:

The world is expected to add another billion people within the next 15 years, bringing the total global population from 7.3 billion in mid-2015 to 8.5 billion in 2030, 9.7 billion in 2050, and 11.2 billion by 2100, according to new estimates from the UN.

Currently, 60 percent of the global population lives in Asia, 16 percent in Africa, 10 percent in Europe, 9 percent in Latin America and the Caribbean, and only 5 percent in North America and Oceania. China and India are the largest countries in the world, together making up almost 40 percent of the world population.

But those numbers won’t stay that way for long.

It’s all about Africa.

The UN’s projections for Africa are pretty mind-blowing. Africa is expected to more than double its population by 2100. Africa currently accounts for 16 percent of the global population. The UN expects that proportion to rise to 25 percent in 2050 and 49 percent by 2100.

These are astounding predictions. The charts that accompany the article help grasp the magnitude of the population shifts we‘re talking about. And though the year 2100 looks like an impossible date written out, it suddenly doesn’t sound too far off.