World population to cross 9 billion by 2050:UN Report

World population is likely to touch 9.2 billion by 2050, an increase of 2.5 billion over the next 43 years, United Nation Population Fund (UNFPA) has announced in its latest report.

According to agency, which provides the basis for assessment of demographic trends at the global, regional and national levels, the world population will rise from the current 6.7 billion to 9.2 billion by 2050.

This increase is equivalent to the total size of the world population in 1950. Almost all of this increase will be in the less developed regions, whose population is projected to rise from 5.4 billion in 2007 to 7.9 billion in 2050.

Going by the estimates, population growth will remain concentrated in eight countries (listed according to the size of their expected growth) – India, Nigeria, Pakistan, Congo, Ethiopia, US, Bangladesh and China.

"Developing countries will have to increasingly invest in the young," said Hania Zlotnik, United Nation Population Fund (UNFPA) director, at the launch of the report. "We estimate that the number of children in the developing world — about two billion — will maintain itself until mid–century. Developing countries will have to increase investment in health care and social services."

"Most countries in Asia and Latin America have reached the relatively beneficial stage of having more working–age adults than children or elderly in their populations. But their populations will then start to age, heading in the same direction as Europe and North America. Europe is the only region at this moment where the number of people aged 60 and over has already surpassed the number of children," Zlotnik added.

"Population ageing is a 20th–century phenomenon resulting partly from improvements in life expectancy. It also coincides with history's largest–ever cohort of young people. The challenge is to meet the needs of older persons while at the same time meeting the urgent needs of the young, especially in developing countries," said Thoraya Ahmed Obaid, executive director of United Nation Population Fund.

At present, in developed countries, 20 percent of the population is already over 60 years old, and this proportion is projected to reach 33 percent in 2050.

India clearly has to think hard about improving health care services, pensions and social support services for its older generation in order to face the demographic transition.