Total and urban population

The world population is estimated to have grown by 0.9 per cent in 2021 and is projected to surpass 8 billion in 2022. The growth rate has slowed down faster since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 than during the gradual slowdown taking place from the late 1980s. It is expected to rebound in 2023 before continuing its decent towards a forecast 0.5 per cent growth in 2050.

A population decrease was seen in 52 economies in 2021. The population of 22 of those was growing five years earlier. Of these economies with newly negative population growth, 11 were expected to still have decreasing populations in 2026. The last group includes Montserrat, San Marino, Belarus, Cuba, North Macedonia and Russian Federation.

The population of Africa is growing much faster than that of any other continent. Of the 30 economies with the fastest growing population, only Afghanistan, the Syrian Arab Republic and Solomon Islands are outside Africa.

Over the last 25 years, the world population has increased by 2.1 billion people. Almost all this growth has occurred in developing economies, mainly in Asia and Oceania (+1.2 billion) and Africa (+0.7 billion). In 2021, five in six people in the world lived in a developing economy.

In the coming 25 years, global population is projected to grow by 1.6 billion people. The population of the economies that are today considered developing will continue to grow. Africa is expected to lead this growth (+0.9 billion) followed by developing economies in Asia and Oceania (+0.6 billion).

All over the world, a growing proportion of the population lives in cities. In 2011, 52.0 per cent lived in urban areas. The share of urban population was projected to have increased to 56.5 per cent in 2021. It is generally higher in the developed (79.5 per cent in 2021) than in the developing world (51.8 per cent). In LDCsleast developed countries, the people living in urban areas are in the minority (35.3 per cent).

Over the last ten years, urbanization has been most pronounced in developing economies, especially in Asia and Oceania, which saw the urban rate increase from 43.3 in 2011 to 50.0 per cent in 2021. Africa has seen a 4.6 percentage point increase in the same period. By contrast, further urbanization in the developing economies of the Americas has been relatively modest. Urbanization levels in this region are already comparable to developed economies.