Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Jul 9;3(28):604-613.
doi: 10.46234/ccdcw2021.160.

Major Trends in Population Growth Around the World

Affiliations

Major Trends in Population Growth Around the World

Danan Gu et al. China CDC Wkly. .

Abstract

The world's population continues to grow, albeit at a slower pace. The decelerating growth is mainly attributable to fertility declines in a growing number of countries. However, there are substantial variations in the future trends of populations across regions and countries, with sub-Saharan African countries being projected to have most of the increase. Population momentum plays an important role in determining the future population growth in many countries and areas where fertility is in a rapid transition. With declines in fertility, the world's population is unprecedentedly aging, and the numbers of households with smaller sizes are growing. International migration is also on the rise since the beginning of this century. The world's population is also urbanizing due to increased internal rural to urban migration. Nevertheless, there are uncertainties in future population growth, not only because there are uncertainties in the future trends in fertility, mortality, and migration, but also because there are many other factors that could affect these trajectories. International consensus on climate change and ecosystem protections may trigger population control policies, and the ongoing pandemic is likely to have some impact on mortality, migration, or even fertility.

Keywords: Growth; Population; Trends.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of interest: No conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Growth of the world population, 1950–2100.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Population growth by Sustainable Development Goals region, 1950–2100.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Population growth for selected populous countries, 1950–2100.

References

    1. United Nations. The world population prospects 2019: highlights. New York: United Nations; 2019. https://population.un.org/wpp/Publications/Files/WPP2019_Highlights.pdf.

    1. Bongaarts J, O’Neill BC Global warming policy: is population left out in the cold? Science. 2018;361(6403):650–2. doi: 10.1126/science.aat8680. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Liu DH, Raftery AE How do education and family planning accelerate fertility decline? Popul Dev Rev. 2020;46(3):409–41. doi: 10.1111/padr.12347. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Oeppen J, Vaupel JW Broken limits to life expectancy. Science. 2002;296(5570):1029–31. doi: 10.1126/science.1069675. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Andreev K, Kantorová V, Bongaarts J. Demographic components of future population growth. Population division. New York: The United Nations; 2013. Technical Paper No. 2013/3. https://www.un.org/en/development/desa/population/publications/pdf/technical/TP2013-3.pdf.

LinkOut - more resources