LONDON, (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – India is set to overtake China and become the world’s most populous country in less than a decade – six years sooner than previously forecast, the United Nations said yesterday.
Fast-growing Nigeria is on course to outstrip the United States by about 2050 to become the country with the third largest population, the United Nations predicted.
The current global population of 7.3 billion is forecast to reach 9.7 billion in 2050 and 11.2 billion in 2100, slightly above the last set of U.N. projections.
Most growth will happen in developing regions, particularly Africa, according to the report World Population Prospects.
The demographic forecasts are crucial for designing and implementing the new global development goals being launched later this year to replace the Millennium Development Goals.
John Wilmoth, head of the U.N. population division, said the concentration of growth in the poorest countries would make it harder to eradicate poverty, combat hunger and expand schooling and health systems.
The world’s two largest nations, China and India, have well over 1 billion people each and are likely to switch places by 2022 – six years earlier than previously forecast.
Experts predict Africa will account for more than half the world’s population growth in the next 35 years.
Ten African countries – Angola, Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Malawi, Mali, Niger, Somalia, Uganda, Tanzania and Zambia – are projected to increase their populations five-fold or more by 2100.
