Report predicts world’s aging population to triple by 2050

[Neo]

Wednesday, March 14, 2007

Report predicts world’s aging population to triple by 2050

* Says developing world population growth set to rise from 4.6 to 6.2b
* Developed world population to remain at 1.2 billion

UNITED NATIONS: A United Nations report released on Tuesday warned that the number of people 60 years of age and older was set to nearly triple to two billion by 2050, accounting for nearly a quarter of the world’s expected total population of 9.2 billion.

The 2006 revision of “World Population Prospects” – conducted by the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs Population Division – predicted that the global population would swell by 2.5 billion from the current 6.7 billion during the next 43 years.

“While the population at the global level is on track to surpass 9 billion by 2050 and hence continues to increase, that of the more developed regions is hardly changing and will age very markedly,” the report warned, adding that most of the population growth and youth in the world was expected to come from poorer nations.

“Virtually all population growth is occurring in the less developed regions and especially in the group of 50 least developed countries (LDCs), many of which still have relatively youthful populations which are expected to age only moderately over the foreseeable future.

“Among the rest of the developing countries, rapid population aging is forecast.” A combination of people living longer and having fewer children would nearly double the number of people over 60 years of age from the current 245 million to 406 million in 2050. The UN report said that the prevailing trend of people having insufficient numbers of children to replace people dying would continue in the developed countries, whereas fertility in the least developed nations would decline while still remaining higher than the rest of the world.

“Because of its low and declining population growth, the population of the developed countries as a whole is expected to remain virtually unchanged between 2007 and 2050, at about 1.2 billion,” the report found. “In contrast the population of the 50 least developed countries will likely more than double, passing from 0.8 billion in 2007 to 1.7 billion in 2050,” it said.

“Growth in the rest of the developing world is also projected to be robust though less rapid, with its population rising from 4.6 billion to 6.2 billion.” The report also pointed out that despite immigration barriers, international migration from poor to rich nations was expected to make up for the shortage in developing world labour forces. However, the populations in 46 countries, including Germany, Italy, Japan, South Korea, most of the former Soviet Union states and several small island states were expected to be lower in 2050 than their current levels.

But, the report stressed, the populations of Afghanistan, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Niger, East Timor and Uganda were forecast to triple over the next four decades. Similarly, the UN said that Pakistan, India, Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, the United States, Bangladesh and China were forecast to account for half the world’s projected 2.5 billion-population increase by 2050.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007\03\14\story_14-3-2007_pg7_32

 

[HASEEB66]

we all will be one of them too.

 

[Janbaz]

I consider myself a goner by then partly beacause i eat a lot of sweet, drink tea like hell and include no fruit though i do play Basketball and Cricket at competitive levels, which gives me hope!

 

[araz]

AsSalam o Alaikum.
Brothers unless we change our habits and diet radically, I dont see most of us making it to 2050. All of us eat too much, dont do enough excercise, and neglect our bodies just like everything else. So if you have a desire to make it to 2050, ( I dont) ,please look after yourself and do some excercise and keep your mind and body in good trim.Eat to live not the other way around.
WaSalam
Araz