In light of the global population touching 8 billion people, discuss the opportunities and challenges going ahead.

On November 15, 2022, the population of the globe surpassed 8 billion, according to UN projections. It took about 1 billion years from the origin of humanity to around 1800 AD to attain a worldwide population of 1 billion, and just 200-plus years to add the following 7 billion. The global population is expected to stabilize at around 10.5 billion people if current trends continue.

Highlights:

  • This remarkable rise is attributable to advances in public health, diet, personal hygiene, and medication. 
  • It is also a result of some countries’ high and sustained fertility rates. 
  • It took 12 years for the world’s population to increase from 7 billion to 8 billion. 
  • It will take around 15 years to reach 9 billion people. 
  • It is evidence that the rate of population expansion worldwide is slowing down.
  • Asia is home to more than half of the world’s population as of 2022, with China and India having more than 1.4 billion inhabitants each.

India’s situation:

  • India has the highest proportion of adolescents and young people ever, according to UNFPA. 
  • According to UNFPA predictions, India’s population will remain among the youngest in the world until 2030 and is presently going through a demographic window of opportunity known as a “youth bulge” that will endure until 2025.
  • The United Nations Population Fund estimates that although while India’s population is stabilising, it is “still rising at 0.7% per year” and will overtake China as the world’s most populated nation in 2023.

Challenges:

  • Rapid increase in population will make it difficult to achieve sustainable goals as more pressure will be put on existing resources.
  • The problem of hunger, education, poverty, etc will become bigger with a bigger population.
  • The older population of the world is increasing, provisioning of social security for them is a big challenge for them.

Opportunities:

  • The gdp growth of many countries will be driven by immigration in coming future.
  • The vast youth, if made skilled can turn the entire economy into a knowledge economy.
  • India will have the largest working population in the entire world.
  • India can become an economic giant and provide more than half of Asia’s potential workforce in the future decades owing to its more than 65% working-age population.

Way forward:

Countries must engage in the future development of their human capital in order to reap the full potential advantages of a favourable age distribution. To do this, they must guarantee that all citizens have access to quality health care and education, as well as foster chances for respectable employment.

Originally written on August 1, 2023 and last modified on October 27, 2024.

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