What is the World Population Estimate for 2050?

The global human population is projected to grow by more than 2 billion people by 2050, the equivalent of an additional China and India, in terms of their human populations today. That breaks down to about 75 million people a year, roughly equivalent to the entire human population of Iran.

More facts about global growth:

• Most of the world's human population growth is expected to take place in nine countries: India, Pakistan, Nigeria, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Bangladesh, Uganda, United States, Ethiopia and China, in a descending order of growth percentage.


• Asia alone is expected to have more than 5 billion people by 2050, which means that approximately half of the world will live in Asia. North America is expected to have only 500 million people in total — 10 percent of that of Asia.


• Despite the massive human population growth, fertility among people is actually declining in some countries. In fact, global human fertility is expected to decline by about half a child per woman by 2050. Increased fertility among people in certain countries, combined with increasingly longer life expectancy, however, means that the world's human population will continue to grow.