The first unofficial World Population Day happened on July 11th, 1987. This was after the world’s population reached 5 billion on the same day.
World Population Day is an annual event, observed on 11th of July every year, which seeks to raise awareness of global population issues.
The term, “World Population” refers to the human population (the total number of humans)
Notable History of World Population
- First Billion: The world population hit 1 billion people in 1804.
- Second Billion: The world population doubled to 2 billion in 1927.
- Third billion: The world population reached 3 billion in 1960.
- Sixth billion: After 40 years, the World population hit a census of 6 billion in 2000.
- Seventh Billion: On April 24, 2017, world population reached 7.5 billion.
To celebrate this year’s World Population Day, this post will highlight 11 facts about World Population.
- The world is currently at 7.8 billion human population
- China has the largest country population of 1.41 billion people, a position it has maintained for over half of a century. Its rank is followed closely by India with 1.34 billion people population.
- The top 10 most populous countries are:
China
India
United States
Indonesia
Pakistan
Brazil
Nigeria
Bangladesh
Russia and
Mexico
- Nigeria is the 7th most populous country, with a total population of over 200 million people. With the fastest growth rate of 2.6% a year, the country’s population is projected to surpass that of the United States shortly before 2050.
- The median age of the world’s population was estimated to be 30.4 years in 2018.
- Niger has the youngest median age in the world, 15.3 years old. This means that half of its population is older than that age, while the other half is younger.
- Monaco, a sovereign city-state, country, and microstate on the French Riviera in Western Europe, has the most dense population in the world.
It is actually the second smallest sovereign state in the world, but its population is far from small. Despite only covering 0.78 square miles, it has a population of 38,897 humans.
- More than three-quarters (17%) of the world’s population lives in Africa, which is expected to reach 26% by 2050.
- The highest global population growth rates with increases of over 1.8% per year, occurred between 1955 and 1975, peaking to 2.1% between 1965 and 1970.
- The growth rate declined to 1.2% between 2010 and 2015 and is projected to decline further in the course of the 21st century
- Global fertility is projected to fall from 2.5 children per woman in 2010-2015 to 2.0 in 2095-2100.
EFFECT OF CORONAVIRUS ON WORLD POPULATION
As the global population rises by the day, this year, we are observing the day amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, a global crisis that has had a considerable impact on almost everyone, especially the global population and numbers. With more than 12 million affected people, the coronavirus pandemic has proven to be one of the greatest challenges the world has witnessed.
The pandemic has already affected the World population through a significant number of deaths worldwide. But nature has a way of balancing this by the natality rate (the ratio of the number of births to the size of the population) that is equally increasing.
Other factors affecting Human Population include:
- Birth rate
- Death rate
- Migration
All these are influenced by underlying factors like economy, environmental balance, security and other similar issues.
As we ruminate over the population status of the world, let us bear in mind that we all have a part to play in maintaining a good World Population and stable ecosystem. Particularly in this pandemic, let us all endeavor to Stay Safe to Stay Alive.
How else do you think we can maintain a stable world population?
Teens Meet Outreach 