世界人口知多少
2016-07-11 CCTVNEWS
Monday marks “World Population Day” in communities across the globe. The event, promulgated by the United Nations on July 11, 1989, aims at bringing attention on the urgency and importance of population issues. Here are four facts about the global population in honor of the day.

How many people are there on earth?

Global population hit 7.4 billion midway through 2016, and is expected to reach 9.7 billion by 2050.

Asia claims more than half of the world's total population, with more than 4.4 billion people.


China boasts a population of 1.38 billion people, which means that one person in every five people on the planet is Chinese. But the country’s population growth has slowed down, while neighboring India maintains its momentum. According to the United Nations projections, India will overtake China to become the world’s most populous country by 2022.

People are living longer, but not healthier

Average lifespan has been extended thanks to improvement in the medical field and progress in living standards. By 2015, it stood at 71.4 years, a five-year increase from 2000 –the fastest rate since 1960s.

But our longer lives are marred by significant health problems.

Although remarkable progress has been achieved in fighting infectious diseases such as HIV/AIDS and malaria, as well as maternal and child illnesses in the past decade, healthy life expectancy has not increased appropriately, according to an analysis published in The Lancet journal.


Major causes of health deterioration include ischemic heart disease, lower respiratory infections, strokes, low back and neck pain, and road injuries.

The ever-crowded world faces tough challenges

The world’s population growth trajectory maintains an upward trend, fueled by high fertility rates from developing countries and a global increase in average life expectancy. However, unequal population growth rates are a major concern for all policy makers.

There exists a wide gap between the population growth in developed and developing worlds. In Africa, for example, where growth is expected to occur mostly, women are having more babies amid hindered development and perpetuated poverty. Meanwhile, in wealthier countries in America, Europe, and parts of Asia, low fertility rates and a shortage of workers are raising concerns about the sustainability of economic growth and social programs.

How we tackle these problems will decide whether the future is healthy and sustainable, or flawed with inequalities, environmental degredation and economic setbacks.

This year’s theme is “Investing in Teenage Girls”

Around the world, enormous challenges face education and empowerment for teenage girls. Two-thirds of the 774 million illiterate people in the world are females. Moreover, there are still 31 million girls of primary school age out of school, of whom 17 million are expected to never enter school, according to a report from UNESCO.


Forced marriage, early motherhood and gender-based violence are the greatest barriers to girls' access to education, damaging their future prospects.


This year’s World Population Day, themed “Investing in Teenage Girls”, intends to highlight the urgent need to educate girls. If given access to full education, teenage girls are able to fully participate in society and become agents of change in addressing gender inequality.