The rapid growth of the world population, when will it slow down?

Short answer - After the inevitable fill-up.


In this video Prof. Hans Rosling explains the inevitable fill-up of adults.

Today there are 7 billion people in the world. Out of those 7 billion, 2 billion are children aged 0-15 and 2 billion are young adults between 15-30 years. Adults between 30-45 years make up only 1 billion of the world population, and so do the adults between 45-60 years. Those above 60 years also count as about 1 billion. Assuming that life expectancy will remain the same and that the number of children will also not change, there will be a fill up of adults as generations pass. The children of today will become adults and have children. Considering that the number of children is not expected to grow, by the end of the century 3 billion more people will be added to the world population within the next generations.

That’s how the fast population growth ends. It’s expected to happen when the children of today reach the age group of 60 years or above.

If we consider the expected increase in life expectancy, one more billion people will be part of the world population, totalling 11 billion by the end of the century.

You can download this video here!


UN Population Prospects 2012.