Population growth and human development

Abstract

Between 1970 and 1990, the world population grew by 1.6 billion; of that growth, 90 per cent occurred in developing countries (Figure 16.1). In the next two decades, it is projected that the world’s population will grow by 1.7 billion, reaching about 7 billion in the year 2010. Though population growth rates have been falling steadily since 1970, both in developed and developing regions (Figure 16.2), the net annual addition to the number of people in the world has been rising since the 1970s: the 1990s will witness the largest average annual increment to world population in history (Figure 16.3, on page 180). After this, population growth should slow down and by 2110 the world population may reach a stationary level of 10.5 billion (1, 2).