UN Report Shows World Population Growing Faster than Previously Projected
The U.N. has issued a revised world population forecast that shows population growing faster than previously projected. The new “medium variant” forecast issued by the U.N. shows world population reaching the 7 billion mark in October of 2011, reaching 9.3 billion by 2050 and 10.1 billion by the end of the 21st century. Hania Zlotnick, director of the population division of the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, warned that the new projection has ‘serious implications” for the ability to provide food, water, energy, education and employment for millions of people in the world’s poorest nations. The UN presented three scenarios, including a less likely “high projection variant” that foresees an increase in the world population to 10.6 billion in 2050 and 15.8 billion in 2100. “We are raising the alarm that even though the population of the world has reduced its growth rate enormously, current growth rates are too high,” Zlotnick said. “And you could have even more billions than our most likely scenario. That is where we see a danger.”
