World Population Hits 8 Billion, Africa Will Drive Growth, UN Says – National

The world’s population is expected to reach an estimated 8 billion on Tuesday, according to United Nations projections, with much of the increase coming from developing countries in Africa.

Among them is Nigeria, where resources are already at their limit. His more than 15 million people in Lagos compete for everything from electricity to home lighting to spots on crowded buses. Some Nigerian children go to school at 5am.

And over the next 30 years, the West African nation’s population is expected to surge even further, from 216 million this year to 375 million. This makes Nigeria her fourth most populous country in the world after India, China and the United States.

“We are overusing what we already have: housing, roads, hospitals, schools,” said Gyang Dalyop, an urban planning and development consultant in Nigeria.

Tuesday’s UN 8 billion milestone day is more symbolic than precise, with officials taking note and making some startling predictions in a wide-ranging report released over the summer. I’m here.

Food insecurity is becoming an even more pressing issue as governments struggle to provide enough classrooms and jobs for a rapidly growing number of young people.

Nigeria, along with African countries Congo, Ethiopia and Tanzania, is one of eight countries that the United Nations says will account for more than half of the world’s population growth between now and 2050.

“The population of many countries in sub-Saharan Africa is projected to double between 2022 and 2050, putting further pressure on already strained resources and reducing poverty and inequality. It challenges policies aimed at

The world population is projected to reach approximately 8.5 billion in 2030, 9.7 billion in 2050, and 10.4 billion in 2100.

Other countries with the fastest growing populations are Egypt, Pakistan, the Philippines, and India, which are set to overtake China as the world’s most populous country next year.

In the Congolese capital of more than 12 million people, Kinshasa, many families struggle to find affordable housing or pay for school. Elementary school students are free to attend, but chances for older children depend on their parents’ income.

Luc Kyung, a Kinshasa truck driver and mother of six, said that “my children took turns” attending school. “The two studied while others waited for money. If there weren’t so many children, they would have finished their studies on time.”

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Rapid population growth also means more people fighting for scarce water resources as climate change increasingly impacts crop production in many parts of the world, leaving more families to starve. means to face

Dr Srinath Reddy, Chairman of Public Health Foundation of India, said: “Reducing inequality while focusing on climate change adaptation and mitigation should be the focus of policy makers.”

Still, experts say the bigger threat to the environment is consumption, which is highest in developed countries where populations have not grown significantly.

Poonam Mutreja, Executive Director of the Indian Population Foundation, said, “Only a small fraction of the world’s population uses most of the planet’s resources and produces most of its greenhouse gas emissions. There is global evidence of “For the past 25 years, the wealthiest 10% of the world’s population has accounted for more than half of all carbon emissions.”

According to the United Nations, sub-Saharan Africa’s population is growing by 2.5% annually, more than three times the global average. Part of that can be attributed to people living longer, but family size remains the driving force: a woman in sub-Saharan Africa, on average, has had 4.6 of her births. , twice her current global average of 2.3.

According to United Nations statistics, families grow larger when women start having children earlier, and four out of 10 African girls are married before the age of 18. The continent has the highest teenage pregnancy rate in the world, and about half of all children born to mothers under the age of 20 in the world last year were born in sub-Saharan Africa.

Still, any efforts to reduce family size are too late to significantly slow growth projections for 2050, the UN says. About two-thirds of them are “driven by past growth momentum.”

“Such growth would occur even if births in today’s high-fertility countries quickly dropped to about two births per woman,” the report noted.

There are also important cultural reasons for large families. In sub-Saharan Africa, children are seen as a blessing and a source of support for elders.

Still, some large families “may not really have what it takes to feed,” says Eunice Azimi, a Lagos insurance broker and mother of three.

“In Nigeria, we believe that it is God who bestows children,” she said. “They think that the more children you have, the more profit you will make. And you’re actually running past your peers who can’t have that many children. Competition in the village.” looks like.”

Former president John Magufuli, who ruled the East African country from 2015 until his death in 2021, discouraged birth control, saying having a large population was good for the economy.

He opposed family planning programs promoted by outside groups and urged women not to “block their ovaries” in a 2019 speech. He even described contraceptive users as “lazy” in a country overflowing with cheap food.

But his successor, Samia Sulf Hassan, appeared to reverse government policy last month, saying birth control was necessary to avoid overwhelming the country’s public infrastructure.

Despite population surges in some countries, the United Nations says 61 countries are forecast to see population declines of 1% or more.

According to US Census Bureau data, the United States currently has a population of about 333 million. Population growth in 2021 is just 0.1%, the lowest since the founding of the country.

“Going forward, growth will slow. The question is how slow,” said William Frey, a demographer at the Brookings Institution. “Immigration is the true wild card for the United States and many other developed countries.”

Charles Kenny, a senior fellow at the Center for Global Development in Washington, says environmental issues around the 8 billion vehicles should focus especially on consumption in the developed world.

“The problem is not the population, it’s the way we consume. Let’s change our consumption patterns,” he said.