The United Nations announced that the world's population reached 8 billion on November 15, 2022.
Xinhua News Agency issued Xu Xiaoxuan compiled
Why November 15th?
According to the website of the British magazine "New Scientist", the United Nations chose November 15, 2022 as the anniversary of the global population reaching 8 billion based on the population growth forecast model. Like every demographic node that humans have crossed in the past, this number is symbolic. The United Nations announced the milestone of the global population mainly to remind the world to pay more attention to the population issue.
Who is the 8 billionth earthling?
Danica, a girl born in Manila, the capital of the Philippines, was symbolically designated by the United Nations as the world's 7 billionth baby on October 31, 2011, to mark the global demographic milestone and draw attention to the challenges facing global population growth.
Previously designated by the United Nations as the 6 billionth and 5 billionth babies from Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia, respectively. But this year, no plans have been announced to designate the "8 billionth inhabitants of the planet."
When does the world's population peak?
According to the UN website, it will take about 12 years for the global population to grow from 7 billion to 8 billion, and it will take about 15 years to reach 9 billion by 2037, indicating that the overall rate of global population growth is slowing.
According to a forecast published by demographers at the United Nations on July 11, the world's population will peak in the 2080s, at about 10.4 billion people, a level that will continue until 2100. However, a 2020 study by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington in the United States estimated that the global population will peak in 2064, reaching less than 10 billion, and between 9 billion and 10 billion.
On November 15, pedestrians pass through Tokyo Station, Japan. Xinhua News Agency (photo by Sun Jialin)
Where are the new population added?
According to the United Nations, by 2050, more than half of the world's new population will be concentrated in eight countries: the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines and Tanzania.
The UN website says countries with high fertility tend to have low per capita incomes. Over time, global population growth has become increasingly concentrated in the world's poorest countries, most of which are in sub-Saharan Africa. In these countries, sustained rapid population growth could hinder the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals, which remain an important pathway to a happy and healthy future for the world.
What does 8 billion people mean?
In a signed article entitled "8 billion people, one human being", UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that the world's population has reached 8 billion - this is proof of breakthroughs and improvements in nutrition, public health and environmental sanitation. But he also said inequality is also growing amid multiple crises such as climate change, food security and war.
Earth model. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Wang Ying
According to the UN website, the countries with the highest per capita consumption of material resources and greenhouse gas emissions tend to be those with higher per capita incomes, rather than those with rapid population growth. Achieving the Paris Agreement's goal of limiting warming, along with the Sustainable Development Goals, depends critically on curbing unsustainable patterns of production and consumption.
Guterres has high hopes for the ongoing UN Climate Change Conference COP27 and the G20 G20, saying: "We must seize the opportunity provided by this month's major global meeting to begin bridging differences and restoring trust on the basis of equal rights and freedoms for every member of the human family of 8 billion people." ”
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Source: China Economic Network