UN Secretary General lauded humanity’s progress but gave reminder that it’s still ‘in peril’
The world’s population is expected to reach the eight-billion milestone in mid-November of this year, with India projected to surpass China next year as the most populous country, the United Nations has said.
UN Report Monday: Global population growth forecasts for 2030 are 8.5 billion, 9.7 billion and 10.4 billion respectively.
According to the UN, the world’s population is on the rise in part due to declining mortality, with global life expectancy reaching 72.8 years in 2019, which is almost nine years longer than it was in 1990. However, UN said the rate of growth was slowing.
The report – titled ‘World Population Prospects 2022’ – also projects that the population will be increasing unequally across the world, with just eight developing countries accounting for more than a half of the anticipated growth. It includes the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the countries of Egypt, Ethiopia (and other African nations), India, Pakistan. The Philippines and Tanzania are also included.
World Population Day fell on the same day as the publication. Antonio Guterres from UN Secretary General praised the achievements of humanity in his message. At the same, Guterres noted that eight billion was a significant milestone. “is a reminder of our shared responsibility to care for our planet,”The Covid-19 pandemic and other humanitarian disasters as well as the wars and climate crisis have all shown how fragile the world is. “in peril.”
Guterres said that the world is still plagued by vast gender inequality and assaults on women’s rights.
“Reaching a global population of eight billion is a numerical landmark, but our focus must always be on people,” he reiterated.
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