Global population touches 8 billion; India largest contributor by adding 177 million people
New Delhi, November 15: With the global population reaching 8 billion, the UN on Tuesday said India’s population growth appeared to be stabilising. It hailed India's national policies and health systems, including access to family planning services, and said these seemed to be working.
Notably, India is the largest contributor to the world population's growth, which touched eight billion on Tuesday. India added 177 million people, the United Nations said. India's population is likely to surpass that of China in 2023. China added 73 million people to the world .
“The good news is that India’s population growth appears to be stabilising. The Total Fertility Rate — more or less the average number of children born per woman — has declined from 2.2 to 2.0 at the national level,” the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) said.
The United National Population Fund said as many as 31 states and UTs (constituting 69.7 per cent of the country’s population) achieved fertility rates below the replacement level of 2.1.
The UNPF added though the world’s population would continue to grow to 10.4 billion in 2080s, the overall rate of growth was slowing down. "Two-thirds of the global population lived in a low fertility context, where the lifetime fertility was below 2.1 births per woman. At the same time, population growth has become increasingly concentrated among the world’s poorest countries, most of which are in sub-Saharan Africa," it added. The UN said it did not expect to reach 10 billion until 2080.
- ANI
