By 2050, Nigeria Would Be More Populous Than USA – UN
The Oasis Reporters
June 22, 2017
The United Nations (UN) has predicted that Nigeria would be more populated than the US by 2050.
At the moment, the population of the US is over 322 million, while Nigeria has more than 180 million.
In a report by the News Agency Of Nigeria, NAN, it listed both nations among nine countries that would account for half of the world’s population growth from 7.6 billion in 2017 to 9.8 billion in 2050.
Other countries in the category are India, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Pakistan, Ethiopia, Tanzania, the United States, Uganda and Indonesia.
‘In spite of fertility levels declining in nearly all regions in the world’, the group of 47 least-developed countries had a relatively high level of fertility at 4.3 births per woman in 2010 to 2015, according to the UN and that in Africa, populations in 26 countries are projected to expand to at least double their current size.
Huge population growth in the poorest countries will pose a daunting challenge for the UN’s goals of improving healthcare, education and equality to end poverty and hunger in the developing world.
Meanwhile, Europe’s population is predicted to continue ageing, with the percentage of people aged 60 or older rising from 25 percent in 2017 to 35 percent in 2050.
A growing number of countries now have fertility rates below the replacement level that keeps the population level constant, the 10 most populous of which are China, the US, Brazil, Russia, Japan, Vietnam, Iran, Thailand and Britain.
It added that the movement of refugees and other migrants will go some way to compensating for dwindling population growth, especially in Europe, but will not fully compensate for the decline, the report notes.
While the most populated European, Asian and American countries continue to harness their populations for economic growth, in Nigeria and the rest of Africa, the reverse is the case.
NAN
