The United States has a fertility rate comparable to other developed countries, but it has a rate of immigration that keeps its population well above replacement levels. The two exceptions to this are the United States and China, which both number among the fastest growing countries (and are two of the three most populous countries all ready). Most of the world's population increase is occurring in sub-Saharan Africa and southern Asia, especially in Nigeria and India. This was attributable to a big bump in women having children between 34 and 44. In the United States, a 2018 Pew Research poll found that number of people with kids was higher than in 1994. As life expectancies increase and healthcare improves, many women might elect to have children later in life. There are some data that suggest a certain level of development can loop back around and cause an increase in the total fertility rate. Demographers also think that urbanization plays an important role in population change children are more likely to work in agricultural societies, so there is more of an incentive to have more children. Data suggest that as women get better access to birth control and are more able to participate in the workplace, the birth rate declines. The global fertilityrate has dropped by nearly 50% from the 1950s.Ī large part of this reduction has been due to the drastic drop of fertility rates in developed countries, especially in Europe and Japan. Estimates of world population from recent years show that, while the total population is still growing, population growth has slowed considerably in the 21st century. Demographic trendsīack in the 1960s and 1970s, when the population of the world reached its peak growth rate, there were many concerns about runaway population growth. India, another major producer of global foods, is also at risk of instability due to climate change. Brazil, which is the world's leading producer of soy and sugar cane).

Changes in the environment threaten important food production regions, like the Caribbean and the rainforests of Latin America (e.g. The far-reaching economic consequences of coronavirus will likely have some effect on growth rates, despite making a comparatively small impact on population sizes.Ĭlimate change is another variable that will have a drastic effect. Time will tell how the COVID pandemic of 2020 will affect these models. The UN Population Division projects that the world population will top out at around 11 billion, based on the average result of many different projections. Population projections can vary drastically, even if they're working from the same population data.

China population 1940