By Gilles Pison and Svitlana Poniakina
The world’s population reached 8.2 billion people in 2024. It has increased eightfold within 2 centuries and is likely to continue growing, perhaps even reaching 10 billion by the end of the 21st century. How is the world’s population distributed? Which countries have the highest fertility rates? And where is life expectancy the longest? Every 2 years, Population & Societies publishes an issue entitled ‘The Population of the World’, which presents an overview of the demographic situation worldwide based on estimates and projections from the United Nations.