World crosses into 2023 with 8.008 billion people

• Nigeria now world’s 6th most populous country

Sopuruchi Onwuka

The world population is projected to be 7.9 billion people on New Year’s Day 2023, with 73.7 million people added since New Year’s Day 2022, marking a 0.9% increase in the world population over the past year; the U.S. Census Bureau has declared.

The figure is however different from the 8.008 billion already recorded by Worldometer on December 31, checks by The Oracle Today showed.

The live data on Worldometer also puts Nigeria on the sixth position in the global population table topped by China and followed by India.

According to Worldometer, some 134 million people were born in 2022 while some 67.004 million people were recorded dead. About 100,000 babies were expected to be delivered on December 31, 2022.

The first month of the year, according to the US agency, will record 4.3 births and two deaths worldwide every second.

The 2022 population would fall below the 8.0 billion earlier projected by the US census bureau for the world by November.

The agency however indicates that the world’s population continues to increase by roughly 140 people per minute, with births outweighing deaths in most countries.

More than half of the world’s expected population growth between now and 2050, the US agency stated, is expected to come from just eight countries: DR Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines, and Tanzania.

Particularly of interest is India, which is on track to overtake China’s position as the most populous country by the year 2030.

Additionally, multiple nations within Africa are expected to double their populations in the coming decades as fertility rates and birth rates rise thanks in part to advancements in medical care and decreased infant mortality and malnutrition.

China is currently the most populous country in the world, with a population estimated at more than 1.42 billion as of September 2022. Only one other country in the world boasts a population of more than 1 billion people: India, whose population is estimated to be 1.41 billion people—and rising.

While India’s population is projected to continue to grow until at least the year 2050, China’s population is currently contracting slightly. This contraction, coupled with India’s continued growth, is expected to result in India replacing China as the most populous country in the world by the year 2030.

In the list of countries with over 200 million people, the U.S. is expected to enter 2023 with population of 334.2 million people, with 1.5 million people added since New Year’s Day 2022, or an increase of just under a half percent.

The U.S. is projected to have a birth every nine seconds and a death every 10 seconds in January 2023.

Net international migration is expected to add a person to the U.S. population every 32 seconds. The combination of births, deaths and net international migration increases the U.S. population by a person every 27 seconds, according to the Census Bureau.

Indonesia comes behind the United States with a population of 276 million people, followed by Pakistan with a population of 237 million, and Nigeria with a population of 220 million.

Brazil follows with a population of 216 million just ahead of Bangladesh which hosts 172 million population.

Despite its massive land mass, Russia will enter 2023 some 145 million people while Mexico follows with 128 million. Japan with its tiny land space comes into list with 124 million people just ahead of Ethiopia which is also in the range of 124 million population.

Philippines made it to the list of world’s population leaders with 116 million people just ahead of Egypt which is in the list with 111 million people.

While Russia and Japan will see their populations decline significantly by 2050, the rest of these nations are expected to continue growing until at least 2050.

Additionally, two additional countries, DR Congo and Vietnam, have more than 99 million people and should soon reach the 100 million mark.

The US census bureau estimates that the world’s population continues to increase, with approximately 140 million babies born every year.

According to the United Nations’ 2022 World Population Prospects report, the global population is projected to reach 8.5 billion people by the year 2030, 9.7 billion people by 2050, and 10.4 billion people by 2080, where it will remain until 2100.

While the world’s total population is expected to continue to rise until roughly 2100, the rate at which the population is rising has been slowly decreasing for decades.

In 2020, the global population growth rate fell below one percent for the first time since 1950. This decrease continues a trend begun in the 1970s, in which the population growth rate shows a consistent decrease when measured in five-year increments.

“Overall, however, the rate of population growth has been slowing for several decades. This slowdown is expected to continue until the rate of population growth reaches zero (an equal number of births and deaths) around 2080-2100, at a population of approximately 10.4 billion people. After this time, the population growth rate is expected to turn negative, resulting in global population decline,” the agency had earlier declared in September.