UN Population Report 2022

UN Population Report 2022- Relevance for UPSC Exam

UN Population Report: UN Population Report 2022 is an important document released by United Nations. UN Population Report 2022 is important for UPSC Mains Exam (GS Paper 2- International Relations- Important International institutions, agencies and fora- their structure, mandate.)

UN Population Report 2022 in News

• Recently, the Population Division of United Nations has released the UN Population Report 2022.
• According to the2022 edition of the United Nations’ World Population Prospects (WPP), released, India is projected to surpass China as the world’s most populous country in 2023.
  • China’s population projected to decrease by 31.4 million, or around 2.2 per cent, between 2019 and 2050.

UN Population Report 2022 Findings

• Growing World Population: UN Population Report 2022 projected the world’s population to reach 8 billion on November 15, 2022.
  • The global population is expected to grow to around 8.5 billion in 2030, 9.7 billion in 2050 and 10.4 billion in 2100.
  • In 2020, the global growth rate fell under 1% per year for the first time since 1950.
• Continent-wise Population: Currently, with 4.7 billion Asia is the most populous continent and has 61 per cent of the global population.
  • 17 per cent reside in Africa (1.3 billion),
  • 10 per cent in Europe (750 million),
  • 8 per cent in Latin America and the Caribbean (650 million), and
  • The remaining 5 per cent in Northern America (370 million) and Oceania (43 million).
• Rates of Population Growth Across Regions and Countries:
  • More than half of the projected increase in global population up to 2050 will be concentrated in just eight countries-
    • The Democratic Republic of the Congo,
    • Egypt,
    • Ethiopia,
    • India,
    • Nigeria,
    • Pakistan,
    • the Philippines and
    • the United Republic of Tanzania.
  • The 46 least developed countries (LDCs) are among the world’s fastest-growing. Many are projected to double in population between 2022 and 2050-
    • Putting additional pressure on resources and
    • Posing challenges to the achievement of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
  • Population Ageing: The population of older persons is increasing both in numbers and as a share of the total.
    • The share of the global population aged 65 years or above is projected to rise from 10% in 2022 to 16% in 2050.
  • Working Age Population: A sustained drop in fertility has led to an increased concentration of the population at working ages (between 25 and 64 years), creating an opportunity for accelerated economic growth per capita.
    • This shift in the age distribution provides a time-bound opportunity for accelerated economic growth known as the “demographic dividend”.
  • Role of International Migration: International migration is having important impacts on population trends for some countries.
    • For high-income countries between 2000 and 2020, the contribution of international migration to population growth (net inflow of 80.5 million) exceeded the balance of births over deaths (66.2 million).
      • Over the next few decades, migration will be the sole driver of population growth in high-income countries.
    • Major Causes of International migration:
      • In many of these countries, the outflows were due to temporary labour movements, such as for Pakistan (net flow of -16.5 million), India (-3.5 million), Bangladesh (-2.9 million), Nepal (-1.6 million) and Sri Lanka (-1.0 million).
      • In other countries, including the Syrian Arab Republic (-4.6 million), Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of) (-4.8 million) and Myanmar (-1.0 million), insecurity and conflict drove the outflow of migrants over this period.

United Nations’ World Population Prospects (WPP)

• About: The Population Division of the UN has been publishing the WPP in a biennial cycle since 1951.
• Mandate: Each revision of the UNWPP provides a historical time series of population indicators starting in 1950.
  • It does so by taking into account newly released national data to revise estimates of past trends in fertility, mortality or international migration.

State of World Population 2022

State of World Population 2022