World population to reach 8 Billion on November 15

COLOMBO (News 1st) - The United Nations says that on the 15th of November 2022, the world’s population is projected to reach 8 billion people, a milestone in human development. This unprecedented growth is due to the gradual increase in human lifespan owing to improvements in public health, nutrition, personal hygiene and medicine. It is also the result of high and persistent levels of fertility in some countries.

The UN further says that while it took the global population 12 years to grow from 7 to 8 billion, it will take approximately 15 years—until 2037— for it to reach 9 billion, a sign that the overall growth rate of the global population is slowing.

Secretary-General António Guterres warned in an editorial penned ahead of the milestone moment that as our human family grows larger, it is also growing more divided.

He was citing billions who are struggling, hundreds of millions facing hunger, and record numbers fleeing home for relief from debt, hardship, wars and climate disasters.

He noted that just a handful of billionaires control as much wealth as the poorest half of the world while the top one per cent pocket one-fifth of the world’s income.

Citizens of the richest countries can expect to live up to 30 years longer than those in the poorest.

Turning to the accelerating climate crisis and unequal COVID recovery, Guterres observed that “as the world has grown richer and healthier in recent decades, these inequalities have grown as well”.

As of this year, over half the world’s people live in Asia, with India and China making up most of the population in eastern and southeastern Asia – home to 2.3 billion people.