Earth to carry the burden of over 9 billion people by 2050

The planet’s population will continue to grow every year, whereas the population of Russia will continue to decline, a new report from the United Nations Population Fund said Wednesday. The number of people living on planet Earth will increase 1.5 times by 2050 in comparison with the current year. The Russian population will decrease by 34 million.

Photo: Earth to carry the burden of over 9 billion people by 2050

The report says that there will be 9 billion 191 million 300 thousand people living on planet Earth by 2050. The increase will mostly take place due to African countries, where the population grows by 2.3 percent every year. The Democratic Republic of Congo will become the most populated country of the Black Continent. The nation will have the 186 million-strong population by 2050 (vs. the current 64.7 million), RIA Novosti reports.

The population increase in Asia is going to be a lot less – only 1.1 percent. The population of Asia’s largest country – China – will grow by less than 100 million in 42 years. China currently has the 1.336 billion-strong population, and this number is expected to grow to 1.408 billion by 2050. India will take the leadership over China at this point. By 2050 India will have 1 billion 658 million people living there against the current 1 billion 186 million.

As for the transit economy countries of the former USSR, Russia will obviously remain the most populated one of them all, although its population will drop by 34 million – from the current 141.8 million to 107.8 million in 2050. The number of Ukrainians will drop 1.5 times – from 45.9 million to 30.9 million. A population reduction is forecast for Belarus too – from 9.6 million to 7 million. Georgia, Armenia and Moldova will have the biggest population decrease at the ratio of 0.8 percent every year.

Population increase in the former USSR is to be reported in Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. The latter will be the leader with a 1.5 percent annual growth – from the current 6.8 million to 10.8 million in 2050.

The demographic situation in Europe will change for the worse as well, albeit no so quickly. The population of Europe will decrease from the current 731 million to 664 million (excluding 12 countries of the former USSR). The annual increase on the level of 1.8 percent will take place in Ireland, whereas negative indexes will be reported in ten countries of the Old World. The worst forecast is expected in Bulgaria – 0.7 percent.

Germany will remain Europe’s most populated country in spite of the fact that the country loses 100,000 people every year – 74.1 million vs. 82.5 million in 2008.

The population of the United States will grow up to 402 million. The number of American citizens will increase at the speed of one percent a year (the nation currently has the 308 million-strong population). The USA will preserve the leadership in the Western hemisphere at this point. Brazil will follow with an increase from 194 million people nowadays to 254 million.

Australia will be able to boast of a population increase too – from 21 to 28 million. The New Zealanders will grow by one million from 4.2 to 5.2 million.