World Population Live
Dorthea Garneau
At the dawn of agriculture, about 8000 B.C., the population of the world was approximately 5 million. Over the 8,000-year period up to 1 A.D. it grew to 200 million (some estimate 300 million or even 600, suggesting how imprecise population estimates of early historical periods can be), with a growth rate of under 0.05% per year.
A tremendous change occurred with the industrial revolution: whereas it had taken all of human history until around 1800 for world population to reach one billion, the second billion was achieved in only 130 years (1930), the third billion in 30 years (1960), the fourth billion in 15 years (1974), and the fifth billion in only 13 years (1987).
Population in the world is growing at a rate of around 0.88% per year in 2023 (down from 0.98% in 2020, and 1.06% in 2019). The current population increase is estimated at around 70 million people per year.
Annual growth rate reached its peak in the late 1960s, when it was at around 2%. The rate of increase has nearly halved since then, and will continue to decline in the coming years. World population will therefore continue to grow in the 21st century, but at a much slower rate compared to the recent past. World population has doubled (100% increase) in 40 years from 1959 (3 billion) to 1999 (6 billion). It is now estimated that it will increase by 50% in the subsequent 40 years, to reach 9 billion by 2037.
The current world population is 8,080,603,803 as of Sunday, December 24, 2023 according to the most recent United Nations estimates [1] elaborated by Worldometer. The term "World Population" refers to the human population (the total number of humans currently living) of the world.
NOTE:
Effective February 1, 2023, the Coronavirus Tracker has switched from LIVE to Daily Updates.
As a number of major countries have now transitioned to weekly updates, there is no need anymore for immediate updates throughout the day as soon as a new report is released. On January 29, 2020, Worldometer started tracking the coronavirus, providing the most timely and accurate global statistics to all users and institutions around the world at a time when this was extremely challenging. We thank everyone who participated in this extraordinary collaborative effort.
Today, the most urbanized regions include Northern America (with 82% of its population living in urban areas in 2018), Latin America and the Caribbean (81%), Europe (74%) and Oceania (68%). The level of urbanization in Asia is now approximating 50%. In contrast, Africa remains mostly rural, with 43% of its population living in urban areas.
Some cities have experienced population decline in recent years. Most of these are located in the low-fertility countries of Asia and Europe where overall population sizes are stagnant or declining. Economic contraction and natural disasters have also contributed to population losses in some cities.
A few cities in Japan and the Republic of Korea (for example, Nagasaki and Busan) have experienced population decline between 2000 and 2018. Several cities in countries of Eastern Europe, such as Poland, Romania, the Russian Federation and Ukraine, have lost population since 2000 as well. In addition to low fertility, emigration has contributed to the lower population size in some of these cities. Globally, fewer cities are projected to see their populations decline from today until 2030, compared to what has occurred during the last two decades.
As the world continues to urbanize, sustainable development depends increasingly on the successful management of urban growth, especially in low-income and lower-middle-income countries where the pace of urbanization is projected to be the fastest. Many countries will face challenges in meeting the needs of their growing urban populations, including for housing, transportation, energy systems and other infrastructure, as well as for employment and basic services such as education and health care. Integrated policies to improve the lives of both urban and rural dwellers are needed, while strengthening the linkages between urban and rural areas, building on their existing economic, social and environmental ties.
The 2018 Revision of the World Urbanization Prospects is published by the Population Division of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA). It has been issued regularly since 1988 with revised estimates and projections of the urban and rural populations for all countries of the world, and of their major urban agglomerations.
The first key strategy is to help cities strengthen their planning systems and local capacities to better design, plan, and manage city assets and urban environments. In this context, the Bank provides cities with various diagnostic tools that enable informed planning decisions, as well as investments in urban infrastructure and service delivery.
The second strategy aims to maximize multiple financial resources for cities through enhancing fiscal and financial systems, to enable them to meet their infrastructure and service delivery financing and investment needs. Driven by sustained city growth and the need to adapt to and mitigate climate change, financing needs for urban infrastructure at a global level are estimated to be $4.5-5.4 trillion per year, including a 9-27% premium to make this infrastructure low-emission and resilient to climate change impacts. While most of this financing need is likely to be concentrated in developing countries, where historical infrastructure deficits are most pronounced, only a small fraction of the needed financing can be supplied by existing fiscal resources and development partners. Many cities face critical financial constraints to address their infrastructure challenges and make the needed investments.
The Bank is well-positioned to help cities expand access to finance from multiple sources, including private finance, but also to strengthen their fiscal capacities and systems that can be sustained in the long run. In addition to providing financing to cities and local governments, the Bank also works with them and national governments to strengthen the basic building blocks of sound city financing by strengthening institutional, fiscal, and regulatory systems. These include: own source revenue generation, including diversifying revenue sources; inter-governmental fiscal transfer systems, especially to regional and local governments in lagging regions which need more financing; improving financial management performance of municipalities and service delivery agencies; and creating an enabling environment for private sector participation and financing through appropriate regulatory frameworks.
Poorer segments of the population are particularly vulnerable, since they tend to live in more hazardous settlements and lack the necessary safety nets to recover from economic or environmental shocks. Without inclusive and climate-informed urban development, climate change can push more than 100 million urban residents back into poverty by 2030.
The Global Program for Resilient Housing was established to respond to the urgency for investments in the identification and improvement of poor-quality housing; and investments in service delivery for at risk urban populations.
The US Census Bureau's world population clock estimated that the global population as of September 2022 was 7,922,312,800 people and was expected to reach 8 billion by mid-November of 2022. This total far exceeds the 2015 world population of 7.2 billion. The world's population continues to increase by roughly 140 people per minute, with births outweighing deaths in most countries.
Overall, however, the rate of population growth has been slowing for several decades. This slowdown is expected to continue until the rate of population growth reaches zero (an equal number of births and deaths) around 2080-2100, at a population of approximately 10.4 billion people. After this time, the population growth rate is expected to turn negative, resulting in global population decline.
While India's population is projected to continue to grow until at least the year 2050, China's population is currently contracting slightly. This contraction, coupled with India's continued growth, is expected to result in India replacing China as the most populous country in the world by the year 2030.
While Russia and Japan will see their populations decline significantly by 2050, the rest of these nations are expected to continue growing until at least 2050. Additionally, two additional countries, DR Congo and Vietnam, have more than 99 million people and should soon reach the 100 million mark.
The world's population continues to increase, with approximately 140 million babies born every year. According to the United Nations' 2022 World Population Prospects report, the global population is projected to reach 8.5 billion people by the year 2030, 9.7 billion people by 2050, and 10.4 billion people by 2080, where it will remain until 2100.
While the world's total population is expected to continue to rise until roughly 2100, the rate at which the population is rising has been slowly decreasing for decades. In 2020, the global population growth rate fell below one percent for the first time since 1950. This decrease continues a trend begun in the 1970s, in which the population growth rate shows a consistent decrease when measured in five-year increments.
The rate of population growth varies greatly from one country or region to another. More than half of the world's expected population growth between now and 2050 is expected to come from just eight countries: DR Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines, and Tanzania. Particularly of interest is India, which is on track to overtake China's position as the most populous country by the year 2030. Additionally, multiple nations within Africa are expected to double their populations in the coming decades as fertility rates and birth rates rise thanks in part to advancements in medical care and decreased infant mortality and malnutrition.
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