We explain what the world population is and its main characteristics. Furthermore, its distribution in the world, its growth and its main problems.
The world population
World population is the number of people living on the planet at a given time.. This amount is the result of the difference between births and deaths: if more people are born than die, the population increases, and if the opposite happens, the population decreases.
Throughout history, the world's population had periods of growth and periods of depopulationbut the general trend shows that the number of people living on the planet increases over the years.
During the last 200 years the world population has experienced profound changes: its growth accelerated, he average age grew (the population “aged”) and the population of the cities increased.
Characteristics of the world population
- The current population is 8000 million inhabitants.
- Some of its main indicators are the birth rate, the death rate, life expectancy and the urbanization rate.
- It is distributed on the planet unevenly.
- It had sustained growth for many centuries, and this growth accelerated especially during the last century.
- Over the past 200 years, the world's population has increased and aged (i.e., the average age has increased). Furthermore, the number of people living in cities has grown, and thanks to globalization, migratory flows between countries have increased.
Population growth in the last 2000 years
In year 0, there were approximately 200 million people living in the world.. It took 1,000 years for the population to double and reach 400 million, and by 1800 more than 1,000 million people were already living on the planet.
From that moment on, world population growth accelerated: in 1900 the population reached 1.5 billion and in 2000 it exceeded 6 billion. In November 2022, the world population exceeded 8 billion inhabitants.
Although the world population is a number that continues to rise, its acceleration slowed, and specialists indicate that throughout the 21st century The number of inhabitants of the planet will grow at an increasingly slower rate. It is estimated that 9 billion will be reached in 2040 and that only by the end of the century will the population exceed 10 billion inhabitants.
| Year | Population |
|---|---|
| 0 | 200 million |
| 1000 | 400 million |
| 1500 | 500 million |
| 1800 | 1000 million |
| 1930 | 2000 million |
| 1960 | 3000 million |
| 1975 | 4000 million |
| 1990 | 5000 million |
| 2000 | 6000 million |
| 2011 | 7000 million |
| 2023 | 8000 million |
The main demographic indicators
The main demographic indicators used to analyze and study the growth, distribution and quality of life of the world population are:
- Birth rate. It measures the number of births in a year per 1000 inhabitants. Niger and Somalia, with 45‰ and 42‰ respectively, have the highest birth rates in the world.
- Mortality rate. It measures the number of deaths in a year per 1000 inhabitants. Bulgaria and Ukraine, with 18 and 17, are the countries with the highest mortality rate in the world.
- Infant mortality rate. It measures the number of children who die before their first birthday for every 1,000 born alive. Afghanistan, with 104, has the highest infant mortality rate on the planet: this figure means that of 1,000 children born in that country, 104 die before reaching one year of age.
- Life expectancy. It is the average number of years a person is expected to live. Japan with 86.2 years and Switzerland with 84.5 have the highest life expectancy on the planet.
- Fertility rate. Measures the number of children one has on average. Niger with 6.91 children per woman and Angola with 5.9 have the highest fertility rates on the planet.
- Vegetative growth rate. It is the difference between births and deaths during a year.
- Immigration balance. It is the difference between people who come to live in a place (immigrants) and those who leave (emigrants).
- Population growth rate. It is the sum between the vegetative growth rate and the migratory balance.
- Population density. It is the number of people who live in a certain area. It is measured in inhabitants per square kilometer. The places with the highest population density in the world can reach 15,000 inhabitants per square kilometer, while the great deserts of the world have a population density of less than 0.1 inhabitants per square kilometer.
- Urbanization rate. It is the percentage of the population that lives in cities.
The aging of the world population
In recent decades The world population has experienced a progressive aging process. A demographic indicator used to measure aging is the percentage of people in the world who are over 65 years old. In 1960, people over 65 years of age represented 6% of the world's population, while today that figure rises to 10%.
Another indicator used to measure the aging of the world's population is life expectancy. This indicator has also been progressively increasing in recent decades: while in 1960 global life expectancy was 51 years, it currently reaches 71 years.
The maximum value was reached in 2019, at 73 years old, but as a consequence of the COVID 19 pandemic, which affected the world population starting in 2020, life expectancy dropped to 71 in the last three years.
The progressive aging of the world population poses a series of challenges and problems that affect the economic, social, health and political levels.
- Pressure on health systems. As the population ages, the demand for health services increases. This can overload hospitals, clinics and health centers, and affect the availability of medical and professional resources to care for increasing numbers of people.
- Increase in the number of retirees. The proportion of economically inactive people increases, and this can represent a financing problem for States that must support the payment of pensions to an increasing number of people.
- Labor and skills shortages. The decline in the working-age population may result in labor and skill shortages in certain industries, professions and trades.
The spatial distribution of the world population
The world's population is distributed unevenly over the Earth's surface. While in some places the population density is very high and the largest cities can exceed 10 million inhabitants, in other regions of the planet the concentration is very low, and so-called “demographic gaps” are formed. In these demographic gaps the population density is less than 1 inhabitant per square kilometer.
By continents, the world population is distributed as follows:
| Continent | Total population | % of total |
|---|---|---|
| Asia | 4,561,000,000 inhabitants | 57% |
| Africa | 1,320,000,000 inhabitants | 16.5% |
| America | 1,000,000,000 inhabitants | 12.5% |
| Europe | 746,000,000 inhabitants | 9.2% |
| Oceania | 42,000,000 inhabitants | 0.5% |
| Antarctica | 4,000 inhabitants (non-permanent) | – |
There are often discrepancies between population growth estimates and census data. Estimates show that the world population in 2023 is 8 billion inhabitants: this data is established based on demographic models and projections that allow the growth of the number of inhabitants of the planet to be calculated.
For its part, official data comes from the censuses carried out by each country. Some of this data may be outdated because countries generally conduct censuses every ten years. For this reason there are differences between the data that arise from censuses and estimates.
The places on the planet where there is the greatest concentration of population are the large cities. Among them are:
- Tokyo (Japan), with 37 million inhabitants.
- New Delhi (India), with 32 million.
- Shanghai (China), with 23 million.
On the contrary, the largest demographic gaps on the planet are found in large deserts such as the Sahara or Tibet, in some sectors of the Amazon jungle, near the Arctic Sea and in Antarctica.
The urbanization of the world population
Urbanization is a demographic phenomenon that has characterized the world population during the development of the 20th century and continues to be a trend in the 21st century. Throughout this period, There has been a significant increase in the proportion of the population living in urban areas around the world.
At the beginning of the century, the majority of the world's population lived in rural areas. By 1950, the proportion of the urban population had increased and constituted 30% of the total. As the century progressed, this trend became more pronounced and by the year 2000 more than half of the global population resided in urban environments.
According to recent estimates, currently, around 55% of the world's population is urbanand this figure is expected to continue increasing in the coming decades.
Several causes contribute to this urbanization process. Some of them are:
- The industrialization process. During the 19th century, the Industrial Revolution brought people to cities seeking employment in factories and industry. Throughout the 20th century this trend continued and deepened over the years.
- Improvements in agricultural technology. The advancement of technology caused agricultural machinery to replace human labor, which led to the migration of the unemployed population from the countryside to the cities.
- The greatest offer and quality of services. The greater variety of health, education, transportation and communication services offered by cities has also attracted people to live in urban environments in recent decades.
- Employment opportunities. The possibility of getting a job in shops, service companies and state agencies is also an important attraction for living in cities.
Globalization and international migrations
The globalization caused a growing international labor mobility, that is, an increase in migrations between countries. In general, those who move are people of working age, who move from middle- or low-income countries to the most developed ones.
For some decades now, Europe and the United States have become destinations for important demographic flows from different parts of the world. However, throughout the 20th century this was not always the same.
Between 1914, when the First World War began, and 1945, when the Second World War ended, migratory flows were from Europe to other countries, especially America.
In the United States, foreign immigrants currently represent almost 15% of the population, while in Europe, they are close to 9%. In the United States, the main migratory flows come from other American countries, especially from Mexico and Central America.. Western European countries, on the other hand, receive immigrants mainly from Africa.
Globalization in transportation and communications favored the increase in international migrations of the world's population. The greater connection between countries, regional agreements and blocs that allow the free movement of goods and people, greater access to information and improvements in the quality and speed of communications are some of the factors that contributed to the increase in migratory flows. in recent decades.
The world in 2100
Some projections estimate that the world population will reach 8.5 billion in 2030, 9.7 billion in 2050, and 10.4 billion in 2100.. These estimates are based on the progression of the fertility rate, which contemplates a decrease in the number of children women have, especially in countries where large families still predominate. In addition, the increase in general life expectancy and the progressive aging of the world population are taken into account.
Africa's poorest countries expected to contribute most of population growth. This continent has the highest population growth rate in the world, so a rapid increase in population is estimated. Some of the poorest countries in the Americas and Asia are also expected to contribute to population growth during this century.
On the contrary, The population of most European countries is expected to decline during the 21st century. The fertility rate in European countries has been very low for several decades, and this trend is expected to intensify in recent years.
In Asia there are countries that also greatly slowed their growth, especially China and Japan, and they are expected to continue on that trend for decades to come. In 1979, China adopted a demographic birth control policy known as the “one-child policy,” which contributed to a sharp decrease in its birth rate. Although the one-child policy has been relaxed in recent years, China's population growth rate is still very low.
Japan, for its part, is one of the few countries that has experienced a significant reduction in its population for some years, and it is estimated that the country has about 600,000 fewer inhabitants each year.
References
- Azun, L. and Zori del Almo, J. (2022). The ten most populated cities in the world in 2023. https://viajes.nationalgeographic.com.es/
- Kenk, J. (sf) October 29, 2015. China ends one-child policy. https://elordenmundial.com/
- Melo, M. (2022) How many people will there be in the world in 2100? https://es.statista.com/
- United Nations Organization (sf) Population. Global challenges. https://www.un.org/
