With every minute that passes 108 people leave the world and 267 enter it. The upward trend means that by 2011 there will be 7 billion people walking (or crawling) the earth, according to data from the Population Reference Bureau.
The rate of growth is uneven, however, and inversely proportional to the concentration of wealth: Africa will grow more populous while the populations of developed countries will grow only slowly, or in some cases go backward (by 2050, for example, Japan’s population is projected to fall from 127 million to 95 million.)
The Canada-Uganda case is instructive of this difference. Canada had 34 million in 2009 and should have 42 million by 2050, according to the Bureau—but Uganda’s 31 million in 2009 are expected to triple themselves before 2050. In 2009, 17 percent of Canadians were under the age of 15, 14 percent over 65; but almost half of Ugandans are under 15, and only 3 percent are over 65.
There is a steady decline in the ratio of working-aged people to the retired: in 1950 it was 12:1, now it is 9:1. Developed countries are mostly responsible for this, because of their relative wealth, diet, and health care systems. People are dying older, and having fewer children.
The shrinking pool of able-bodied workers will have predictable consequences for welfare costs in these countries, the report says. European nations are already starting to feel the sting: the ratio of working-age to elderly people is 3:1 in Germany and Italy; Japan is in the same boat. By 2050 the world ratio is projected to be 4:1.
In the United States, the number of people over 65 will rise from 40 million to 89 million by 2050, and the percentage spent on welfare from GDP will rise from 8.4 percent to 14.5 percent.
By 2050, India’s population is expected to surpass China’s; the United States is predicted to stay in third place.
Six out of ten people worldwide have cell phones. Even in some poverty-stricken places, more than one in five people have a mobile phone.
The rate of growth is uneven, however, and inversely proportional to the concentration of wealth: Africa will grow more populous while the populations of developed countries will grow only slowly, or in some cases go backward (by 2050, for example, Japan’s population is projected to fall from 127 million to 95 million.)
The Canada-Uganda case is instructive of this difference. Canada had 34 million in 2009 and should have 42 million by 2050, according to the Bureau—but Uganda’s 31 million in 2009 are expected to triple themselves before 2050. In 2009, 17 percent of Canadians were under the age of 15, 14 percent over 65; but almost half of Ugandans are under 15, and only 3 percent are over 65.
There is a steady decline in the ratio of working-aged people to the retired: in 1950 it was 12:1, now it is 9:1. Developed countries are mostly responsible for this, because of their relative wealth, diet, and health care systems. People are dying older, and having fewer children.
The shrinking pool of able-bodied workers will have predictable consequences for welfare costs in these countries, the report says. European nations are already starting to feel the sting: the ratio of working-age to elderly people is 3:1 in Germany and Italy; Japan is in the same boat. By 2050 the world ratio is projected to be 4:1.
In the United States, the number of people over 65 will rise from 40 million to 89 million by 2050, and the percentage spent on welfare from GDP will rise from 8.4 percent to 14.5 percent.
By 2050, India’s population is expected to surpass China’s; the United States is predicted to stay in third place.
Six out of ten people worldwide have cell phones. Even in some poverty-stricken places, more than one in five people have a mobile phone.
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