Nov 15, 2022, is being addressed by the United Nations as the Day of 8 Billion as the global population is expected to reach a total of eight billion. Humans have managed to reach this goal through the development of better healthcare services equipped with lifestyle changes and adopting healthy living. Due to the constant improvements related to nutrition, hygiene, and medicine, the lifespan of humans has increased exponentially from what it was a century ago. The human population took 12 years to grow from seven to eight billion. But the UN has forecasted that due to decreasing fertility rates, the human population will take 15 years to grow to nine billion from the current eight billion.
On October 31, 2011, almost 12 years ago, the United Nations declared the Day of 7 Billion, as the world population reached a milestone of seven billion. Throughout the last decade, the healthcare and medicine industries have developed exponentially, providing innovative treatments and cures for some of the most crucial diseases such as cancer, cardiovascular diseases, and many more non-communicable diseases. Because of this, the average lifespan of humans has increased significantly. But along with this, people are having less number of kids, especially in urban areas. In urban areas, due to working parents, fast-paced lifestyle, growing cost of living, etc, couples in urban areas are choosing to have one or two children. With the rapid growth of industries and the spreading of cities, more and more families are adapting to the urban lifestyle. Because of this, even though the lifespan of people has increased drastically, the global birth rate has decreased significantly. Hence, the UN has forecasted that for the next goal of 9 billion, the world population will need 15 years.
The current distribution of the world population is uneven as the countries with lower income have higher populations and vice versa. Almost 50% of the global population resides in seven countries, China, India, the U.S., Indonesia, Pakistan, Nigeria, and Brazil. India and China togetherly have a population of 2.8 billion, which is 35% of the world's population. Out of these seven countries, only the US and China are considered developed countries. Other countries have a significantly higher percentage of the rural population, which is generally recognized to have higher birth rates. However, in these countries, the urban population is growing rapidly due to foreign influence and industrialization. This trend is expected to contribute to the decline in the birth rate, causing the pace of population growth to fall in the coming years.
Along with this, the world is facing many new problems which are challenging human existence. Out of these, climate change and pollution are some of the biggest issues. Researchers have found out that climate change has led to the growth in the frequency of natural disasters which has caused massive destruction in many countries in the last decade. Pollution on the other hand has increased the prevalence of many non-communicable diseases such as Asthma, COPD, and even cancers. Th COVID-19 pandemic which lasted from early 2020 till early 2022, showed that humans are still not ready for new and unknown threats.
