Population

• Among development groups, less developed countries excluding the least developed countries will be home to more than two-thirds of the world's older population (1.1 billion) in 2050.
• A third of the global population - 3.5 billion people - could be living in temperatures inhospitable to human life in the next 50 years because of climate change.
• The expansion in global activity is supported by population growth, with the world's population expected to ‎ increase by over 2 billion people to around 9.6 billion by 2050.
• The share of the working-age population in Africa is projected to expand well past the middle of the century.
• With fertility rates expected to remain below the replacement rate, immigration becomes an increasingly important part of overall population growth in the United States.
• By 2050, India population is expected to rise to 1.64bn while China to remain at 1.40bn.
• China estimates that by 2030, when its population is expected to reach 1.5 billion, it will need to produce an additional 100 million tons of food grains each year.
• Between 2020 and 2050, the older African population is projected to triple from 74.4 million to 235.1 million and its growth in the older adult population in the next three decades will outpace that of any other region of the world.
• The working-age population in Africa is expected to increase by some 450 million people between 2015 and 2035.
• The world's population is aging more quickly than ever before and by 2050, the number of people over age 60 is expected to double.
• In Latin America, population and GDP growth, coupled with increasing electrification and industrialisation, will drive electricity demand by 3.15% per annum through to 2030.
• As the world warms, amplification of rainfall extremes and its consequences will be most pronounced in the tropics where, by 2050, over half of the world's population is projected to live.
• In Latin America, population and GDP growth, coupled with increasing electrification and industrialisation, are forecast to drive electricity demand by 3.15% per annum to 2030.
• The population of Singapore over the age of 65 is expected to reach 26.6% in 2035, whereas the ageing population in Thailand is expected to reach 22.8%.
• By 2040, a total of 5.4 billion people - more than half of the world's projected population - will live in the 59 countries experiencing high or extreme water stress, including India and China.
• Numbers of 15-24-year-olds are projected to increase sharply in rural locations of sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, regions experiencing fast population growth.
• In Los Angeles County, rising temperatures combined with population growth could crank up electricity demand during peak summertime hours as much as 51% by 2060 under a high-emissions scenario.
• The elderly population in Himachal is projected to grow at a rate of 3.1% annually and is expected to reach 1.1 million by 2026, which will be about 15% of its total population by that year.
• Two-thirds of the world's population is unlikely to have easy access to any Covid-19 vaccine that needs to be stored at freezing temperatures.
• When China connects its fiftieth nuclear power reactor to the grid, which is expected in a few years, China's nuclear power plants will contribute only about 5% of the electricity demanded by its population of 1.4 billion.
• As EU figures demonstrate, people aged 65 years or older should account for 30.3% of the EU population by 2070 (compared to 20.3% in 2019) and people aged 80 years or older for 13.2%, while Europe's share of global population is expected to account for less than 4% of the world's population.
• World wheat consumption is forecast to increase in 2020-21 and over the medium term to 2024-25 due to a growing world population consuming more milling and feed wheat.

Last updated: 01 October 2020