Essay on the World Population Growth and Distribution

The latest revision of world population trends was undertaken by the Population Division of the Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations in 1998.

According to this revision which is based on all the available demographic information, the world population in mid-1998 stood at 5.9 billion (One billion 1000 million = 100 crores). It is expected that the world population will reach the 6 billion mark in 1999.

One striking feature of the world population growth is that the annual rate of increase has subsided from 2 per cent in the period 1955-1965 to about 1.8 per cent during 1970s and 1.7 per cent in early 80s.

Between 1995 and 2000 the world population is growing at the rate of 1.3 per cent per year and it is projected that the rate of population growth will be 0.34 per cent per year 2045-2050.

The annual population increment has also declined from its peak of 86 million in 1985-1990 to the current 78 million.

It will further decline gradually to 64 million in 2015- 2020 and then sharply to 30 million in 2045-2050. According to the medium variant projections the world population will reach the figure of 9 billion by 2054.

It is evident from that world population is very unevenly distributed over its various regions. According to the estimates of 1995, most densely populated regions are Asia followed by Europe.

Present population distribution over the various regions is indicative of the historical adjustment of population to resources over thousands of years. It also reflects the differential growth rates of populations of these regions.

While in 1950 Europe and Northern America accounted for 28.5 per cent of the world population, their share in the world total decreased to 17.6 in 1998 and it will further decline to 11.5 per cent in 2050.

Conversely, the share of Africa in the population of the world increased from 8.8 per cent in 1950 to 12.7 per cent 1998 and is projected to reach 19.8 in 2050.

The share of the population of Asia which was 55.6 per cent in 1950, increased to 60.8 per cent in 1998 and is expected to show a little decline in 2050 when it will account for 59.1 per cent of the world population.

The rates of natural increase of the population also indicate .that they vary a great deal from region to region.

For instance, while the population of African and Latin American regions has increased at the rate of 2.8 per cent and 1.8 per cent per year respectively, during 1990-1995, the population of Europe has registered a growth rate of only 0.2 per cent. Highest birth and death rates are recorded by Africa followed by Latin America and Asia.