PRB

The 2023 World Population Data Sheet has launched in a year when climate change-related events have been undeniable.

Antarctica is warming at twice the rate as the rest of the world. New York City garnered the “most polluted city in the world” label for a day. Torrential rains and flooding in Libya displaced more than 40,000 people and killed over 4,000. The list goes on.

Demographic data about a population, like age, gender, and socioeconomic status, can help identify what groups may be more vulnerable to the effects of climate change. Decisionmakers at all levels of governance can take these population characteristics into consideration when planning ways to build their communities’ resilience. Read more about it in the 2023 World Population Data Sheet’s special focus.

What’s new in the 2023 Data Sheet?

Special indicators unique to this year include:

• Projected deaths per 100,000 due to temperature change, 2040-2059 annual average.
• Number of internally displaced persons due to disasters.
• Urban population living in slum households (%).¹
• Population living with moderate/severe food insecurity (%).

Key findings from the 2023 Data Sheet

Population Growth and Decline

• The current global population of 8+ billion is projected to reach nearly 9.8 billion by 2050.
• While Eastern Europe’s population is expected to decline 10% by 2050, Africa is projected to contribute nearly 60% to global population growth between now and 2050.
• Russia’s current population of nearly 147 million is projected to decrease to just 133 million by 2050.
• Niger’s current population of 27 million is projected to grow to 67 million by 2050—a 146% increase.
• The Democratic Republic of the Congo’s population of over 102 million today could more than double by 2050, reaching 217+ million.
• The most populous nation in the world until 2023, China’s population of 1.4 billion today is projected to decline to 1.3 billion by 2050.

Age Structure

• Ten percent of the world’s population is ages 65 and older, while 25% are under age 15.
• Sub-Saharan Africa is the world’s youngest region, with 40% of the population under age 15.
• Western Europe and Southern Europe are both the oldest regions in the world, each with 21% of the population ages 65 and older.

Fertility

• The global total fertility rate—or average lifetime births per woman—is 2.2. This rate varies widely by region, ranging from 5.6 in Middle Africa to 1.1 in East Asia.
• The total fertility rate is 6.7 in Niger, 3.7 in Yemen, 3.4 in Kenya, 3.0 in Timor-Leste, 2.2 in Venezuela, 2.0 in India, 1.7 in the United States, 1.5 in Germany, and 1.3 in Japan.
• Around the world, 63% of married women ages 15 to 49 use some form of family planning method. The share is 51% in Central Asia, 56% in Southern Africa, and 78% in South America.

Vulnerability

• Globally, there were an estimated 8.7 million internally displaced persons due to disasters estimated at the end of 2022. This number was more than 1 million in Pakistan, 854,000 in Nigeria, 543,000 in the United States, 283,000 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and 24,000 in Haiti.
• Sixty-nine percent of those living in low-income countries are experiencing moderate to severe food insecurity. The share is 89% in Sierra Leone, 79% in Afghanistan, 74% in Benin, and 67% in Yemen.
• The mean projected change in annual death rates for every 100,000 people between 2040 and 2059 due to the impacts of climate change on daily temperature varies by country. It is 53 in Niger, 42 in Pakistan, 44 in Burkina Faso, and 19 in Australia.

How can you get a copy of the 2023 Data Sheet?

The World Population Data Sheet is freely available to the public. You can dive into the data in three ways:

• Explore the website.
• Download the booklet.
• Download the standard-size poster to have it printed at your local print shop like The UPS Store.

The Data Sheet has gone digital-only; print copies are no longer available. This change is one way we’re implementing environmentally conscious practices in our activities.

To read more on our work on climate resilience, explore PRB’s climate blog series.

The 2023 World Population Data Sheet was produced under the USAID-funded PROPEL Health project.