India is set to surpass China as the country with the world’s highest population by 2023, according to a study released by the Population Division of the United Nations’ Department of Economic and Social Affairs. The study, which was released on World Population Day (July 11), also predicted that the global population will touch 8 billion on November 15, 2022.

Some of the most significant findings revealed that the two most populous regions in the world are Eastern and South-Eastern Asia with 2.3 billion people (29% of the global population), and Central and Southern Asia with 2.1 billion (26%). China and India, which have populations of more than 1.4 billion each, account for more than half of the population of these regions combined.

RANK199020222050
1ChinaChinaIndia
2IndiaIndiaChina
3USAUSAUSA
4IndonesiaIndonesiaNigeria
5BrazilPakistanPakistan
6Russian FederationNigeriaIndonesia
7Japan Brazil Brazil
8PakistanBangladeshDemocratic Republic of Congo
9BangladeshRussian FederationEthiopia
10NigeriaMexicoBangladesh
World’s 10 most populous countries in 1990 and 2022, and the projection for 2050

However, the study also stated that China is expected to experience an “absolute decline in its population as early as 2023”. Hong Kong also figured in the study as one of the countries with the highest life expectancies, at about 85 years, along with Australia, Japan and Macau.

According to the study, in 2020 “the global growth rate fell under 1% per year for the first time since 1950”. It also predicted that the world’s population will “reach a peak of around 10.4 billion people during the 2080s” and will remain steady until 2100.

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Header image credits: Instants via Canva

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From the Middle East to the Far East and a couple of places in between, Anjali has lived in no fewer than seven cities in Asia, and has travelled extensively in the region. She worked as a lifestyle journalist in India before coming to Hong Kong, where her favourite thing to do is island-hopping with her daughter. You can check out her musings on motherhood, courtesy her Instagram profile.

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