A Brief Overview of 8 Billion People
What will it our changing population mean for us?
--
We hit 8 billion people in the world on the 15th of November. It took us just 12 years to go from 7 to 8 billion.
What I found more interesting is the fact we’re slowing down. The prediction from the UN is that our global population will hit its peak in the 2080s then plateau (then, after 2100, they say “We’ll have to wait and see”).
What does it mean for us? Let’s take a brief look.
A drop in population growth
Our growth rate has been dropping since the 1990s — steading briefly in the 2000s — and then falling under 1% global population growth in 2020 for the first time in modern history.
In the next few decades, the largest population growth will come from some of the world’s poorest countries.
In terms of environmental impact though, it’s still the wealth of a country that predicts its impact on the environment — not it’s population growth.
“The countries with the highest per capita consumption of material resources and emissions of greenhouse gas emissions tend to be those where income per capita is higher, not those where the population is growing rapidly.” — United Nations
A Wider Age Gap
Overall, as medicine and healthcare improves, so does our median age globally. In 1970, the global median age was just 21.5 years old. In 2020 it had risen to 30.9 years old.
By 2100 it’s predicted to be 41.9 years old — which Europe has already pretty much achieved.
But looking at it globally misses the ever-widening gap between areas. The median age between countries is the greatest in recorded history.
In the past we had a lot of young countries, (you were lucky if you made it past 40!) now have young and old ones.
Take a look at this:
- Europe: median age 41.7
- Sub-Saharan Africa: median age approx. 17 years.
The pattern in many (particularly developed) countries is declining fertility alongside longer life expectancy. So we can expect to see an aging population in many places in the next few decades.
What will that mean for us? Making changes in the workplace to accommodate our aging workforce? Rethinking what it means to age and what retirement looks like? Finding ways to work closer as a society to support each other (if we’re trying to be optimistic)?
We can only make good guesses, really.
What are your predictions? Let me know in the comments.
For more on this check out this really interesting post by Jennifer D. Sciubba, an expert on demographic trends.
