The world population has been projected to hit 8 billion in a few hours or latest by 15th November 2022 by the United Nations however it has been protected that out of the 8 countries where the population is expected to double by 2050, five of them are in Africa.
These countries are Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, Nigeria, and Tanzania. The other three countries outside Africa are India, Pakistan, and the Philippines.
The current population of Africa is 1,416,273,537 as of Friday, November 11, 2022, based on the latest United Nations estimates. Africa’s population is equivalent to 16.72% of the total world population. According to the forecast, Africa’s total population would reach nearly 2.5 billion by 2050.
- Africa ranks number 2 among regions of the world (roughly equivalent to “continents”), ordered by population.
- The population density in Africa is 45 per Km2 (117 people per mi2).
- The total land area is 29,648,481 Km2 (11,447,338 sq. miles)
- 43.8 % of the population is urban (587,737,793 people in 2019)
- The median age in Africa is 19.7years.
Already African countries and for that matter, developing countries are already saddled with the challenges of job creation, education, health, and food security among others for the current population. Further increase in population without attitudinal change in government priorities, corruption, poor planning, and governance in the increasing population will worsen the plight of the poor.
Rapid population growth makes it more difficult for low-income and lower-middle-income countries to afford the increase in public expenditures on a per capita basis that is needed to eradicate poverty, end hunger, and malnutrition, and ensure universal access to health care, education, and other essential services.
The above suggests that African countries must not be excited about the projections. Instead, there must be conscious efforts to transform the economies into those that can sustain the growing population.
Rapid growth in Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Tanzania, and Africa in general from 2022 to 2050 means more proactive and well-thought development in all sectors is needed to help manage or deal with or prepare against uncontrolled urbanization, which has the potential to create overcrowding situations resulting from rural-urban drift, destitution, crime, pollution, and political turmoil.
Other serious consequences of rapid population growth are maternal death and illness, and physical and mental retardation of children of very poor families. It is very urgent that over a billion births be prevented in the next 30 years to reduce the annual population growth rate from the current 2% to 1% per year.
India is projected to become the world’s most populous nation in 2023, an enviable record held by China until now. Global population growth has however fell below one percent in 2020 for the first time since 1950.
The world population could also increase to about 8.5 billion people in 2030, and 9.7 billion in 2050. The world population is projected to peak at about 10.4 billion during the 2080s and is expected to stay at that level till 2100.
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