World Population Prospects,rising life expectancy and falling fertility

World Population Prospects


World population crossed its mark of   6.9 billion in mid-2010, according to United Nations demographic reports, and is still on its increase  reach 7 billion in late 2011.

The population grew   by 2 percent annually  a four decades ago, by 1.32 percent annually a decade a ago , from mid-2009 to mid-2010, the population grew by  1.16 percent.

Each year 79.3 million people are added to the population , this has been the consistent trend for nearly  a decade.

“Many industrial countries are now experiencing either relatively slow population growth or—in Japan, Germany, and 14 East European countries—absolute decline. The combination of rising life expectancy and falling fertility has led these countries to experience significant population aging, meaning a rise in the median age. In contrast, many developing countries continue to grow rapidly and have still-large proportions of young people.”

China is the oft discussed example of a developing country with low fertility and rapid aging. 95 percent of population growth is happening in developing countries with some countries like  Afghanistan, East Timor , Liberia, Niger ,Uganda, the Palestinian territories (West Bank and Gaza), with population growth rates above 3 percent a year. The developing countries are home to worlds 82 percent population but unfortunately contributing  “just 34 percent of gross world product in absolute dollar terms.”

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The sub Saharan regions are showing growth rate of average 2.4 percent while the asian subcontinent exhibits diverse demographic trend , with Afghanistan leading with 3.5  percent growth rate and  Japan showing a negative one tenth of 1 percent.

 Owing primarily to very low fertility rates,  South Korea and Singapore are facing the prospect of population shrinkage in the near future.

1.1  percent demographically homogenous growth rate in  Latin America and the Caribbean  while population declining in Germany (–0.1 percent).

High prevalence of HIV/AIDS  and the ongoing civil wars have shortened lives in Congo, Lesotho, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia, and Zimbabwe