Difference between revisions of "What are the global population trends?"
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In 2025, nearly 2/3 of the population will live in Asia. <br> | In 2025, nearly 2/3 of the population will live in Asia. <br> | ||
30% of the European Union population will be over 65. In 2030, it is expected to have 2 people in age of work per elderly person (compared to 4 people per elderly person today).<br> | 30% of the European Union population will be over 65. In 2030, it is expected to have 2 people in age of work per elderly person (compared to 4 people per elderly person today).<br> | ||
'''Projections dependent on continued declines in fertility'''<br> | |||
Fertility in the less developed countries as a whole is projected to decline from 2.75 children per woman in 2005-2010 to 2.05 in 2045-2050. The decline in the group of the 50 least developed countries is expected to be even sharper: from 4.63 children to 2.50 children per woman. However, realization of these projections is contingent on continued declines in fertility, even as funding for family planning has been declining. | |||
Clearly, most people want and are having smaller families than in the past. This trend has been greatly helped by the wider availability of high quality, safe and affordable family planning services. Still, many people are having more children than they want to. Some 200 million women who would like to use contraceptives lack access to them. | |||
Achieving the predicted projections will require expanded access to family planning, especially in the poorest countries. The urgency of this is clear: If fertility were to remain at current levels, the population would increase to 11 billion, with less developed nations' populations rising to 9.8 billion instead of the 7.9 billion that is projected. Even if fertility rates are lower than projected, the large proportion of young people still makes population growth until 2050 virtually inevitable. | |||
Source: UNFPA, 2009, http://www.unfpa.org/pds/trends.htm | |||
'''International migrations''' <br> | '''International migrations''' <br> | ||