World population
Not to be confused with Demographics of the world.
In demographics, the world population is the total number of humans currently living, and was estimated to have reached 7,800,000,000 people as of March 2020.[2][3] It took over 2 million years of human prehistory and history for the world's population to reach 1 billion,[4] and only 200 years more to reach 7 billion.[5]
World human population estimates from 1800 to 2100, with estimated range of future population after 2020 based on "high" and "low" scenarios. Data from the United Nations projections in 2019.
Population growth graph[1]
The world population has experienced continuous growth following the Great Famine of 1315–1317 and the end of the Black Death in 1350, when it was near 370 million.[6] The highest global population growth rates, with increases of over 1.8% per year, occurred between 1955 and 1975 – peaking at 2.1% between 1965 and 1970.[7] The growth rate declined to 1.2% between 2010 and 2015 and is projected to decline further in the course of the 21st century.[7]
The global population is still increasing, but there is significant uncertainty about its long-term trajectory due to changing rates of fertility and mortality.[8] The UN Department of Economics and Social Affairs projects between 9-10 billion people by 2050, and gives an 80% confidence interval of 10-12 billion by the end of the 21st century.[9]
Total annual births were highest in the late 1980s at about 139 million,[10] and as of 2011 were expected to remain essentially constant at a level of 135 million,[11] while deaths numbered 56 million per year and were expected to increase to 80 million per year by 2040.[12] The median age of the world's population was estimated to be 30.4 years in 2018.[13]
