Abstract

PIP: The 1988 UN population revision estimates that the total population of the world in mid 1988 is 5.1 billion persons and that the annual rate of increase is 1.7% for 1987-1988. It proposes a plateau in the rate of world population at around 1.7%, starting in the late 1970s and ending around the early 1990s, with annual fluctuations. In 1985, just under 1/4 of the world population resided in the more developed regions. By 2000, the proportion is expected to decrease to 1/5 and by 2025 to 1/6. The proportion was about 1/3 in 1950. The regions that are growing most rapidly at present (1985-1990), with a rate of 2.5%, include Western Africa (3.3%), Eastern Africa (3.1%), Middle Africa (2.9%), Western Asia (2.8%), Northern Africa (2.7%), and Melanesia (2.6%). The regions that are growing most slowly, with a rate 1%, are Eastern, Northern, Southern, and Western Europe, the Soviet Union and Northern America. Many countries in Eastern, Middle, and Western Africa continue to have among the highest fertility rates in the world, with a total rate of 6 births/woman in 1985-1990. Africa also has the highest mortality rates, with an average life expectancy at birth of 51.9 years for 1985-1990. Of the 7 countries in the world having a life expectancy below 45 years for that period, 5 are in Africa. For the world as a whole in 1985-1990, for every 1000 infants born, 71 are expected to die before reaching their 1st birthday.