On November 15, 2022, the world hit the 8 billion population milestone with the 9 billion mark just a few years down the line. Our world has changed a lot to get to this point and we can look at how the world is still changing on our way to the next population milestone. The world as a whole is growing at 0.83% per year, but countries around the world are growing at different rates with some even losing population.
Countries in Europe, such as Spain and Italy, but as well as Japan and a handful of others, have populations that are starting to get older. These countries are the healthiest in the world but an older population means less people in the workforce and more people needed to care for the elderly as well as a lower fertility rate. On the flipside, countries in sub-Saharan Africa, such as Nigeria and Ethiopia, have very high fertility and growth rates – outpacing anywhere else in the world – but are much unhealthier than other countries. The good thing for this region, however, is that this unparalleled growth is driving a lot of money to help improve the standard of living.
Learn more about the effects of an aging population and how sub-Saharan Africa will continue to grow on the way to 9 billion people here: