Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: It is worrying that Earth now has 8 billion mouths of Homo sapiens to feed when the global climate is collapsing, the world is worried over international conflicts with new war theatres emerging, and the planet is facing a global recession in 2023, with food, fuel, and financing crises looming large.
In what the United Nations considers as a milestone in human development, the global population hit the 8 billion mark on Tuesday after adding a billion people in the last 12 years, with India ready to overtake China as the world’s most populous country in 2023.
The latest UN projections suggest the global population could grow to around 8.5 billion in 2030, 9.7 billion in 2050, and 10.4 billion in 2100. The annual World Population Prospect report, released on Monday to coincide with World Population Day, also noted the global population is growing at its slowest rate since 1950, having fallen to less than one percent in 2020,
The world body said the global milestone signals major improvements in public health that have lowered the risk of death and increased life expectancy but the moment is also a clarion call for humanity to look beyond the numbers and meet its shared responsibility to protect people and the planet, starting with the most vulnerable.
“8 billion hopes. 8 billion dreams. 8 billion possibilities. Our planet is now home to 8 billion people,” the United Nations Population Fund (UNPF) tweeted.
Unless we bridge the yawning chasm between the global haves and have-nots, we are setting ourselves up for an 8-billion-strong world filled with tensions and mistrust, crisis and conflict, said UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
India is projected to surpass China as the world’s most populous country in 2023.
India’s population would increase from 1.412 billion in 2022 to 1.668 billion in 2050. In contrast, China’s population in 2022 is 1.426 billion in 2022, which will decrease to 1.317 billion in 2050.
The global population clock flashed 8,000,000,000 on November 15, with the world having added one billion people in only the last 12 years.
The UN described the global population reaching 8 billion as a remarkable milestone, given the human population numbered under 1 billion for millennia until around 1800, and that it took over 100 years to grow from 1 to 2 billion.
By comparison, the increase of the world’s population over the last century has been quite rapid and despite a gradual slowing in the pace of growth, the global population is projected to surpass 9 billion around 2037 and 10 billion around 2058, according to UN estimates.