World Population rises to over 8bn – UN

The United Nations has projected that a baby born anywhere on Tuesday will increase the world’s population to eight billionth.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in a statement emphasised that  “The milestone is an occasion to celebrate diversity and advancements while considering humanity’s shared responsibility for the planet.”

The UN attributed the growth to human development, with people living longer on earth because of improvements in public health, nutrition, personal hygiene and medicine. The UN added that the growing population is also the result of higher fertility rates, particularly in the world’s poorest countries, most of which are in sub-Saharan Africa, putting their development goals at risk.

The world population was 2.5 billion in 1950.

The UN projects the population to continue growing to about 8.5 billion in 2030, 9.7 billion in 2050, and peaking around 10.4 billion in the 2080s.