World population hits 8 billion this week

The world population is expected to hit 8 billion on Tuesday, a monumental milestone in human history, just 11 years after the population hit 7 billion.

The population has grown rapidly for almost all of humanity's existence. Between 1 C.E. and 1650, the population grew a measly 200 million, however, the world is now expected to grow another half a billion by 2030. The growth is attributed to the increased life expectancy due to medical advancements. The U.N. predicts that the population will peak at around 10.7 billion in the 2080s. But, population growth is the slowest its been since 1950, and was even below 1 percent in 2020, the U.N. reports.

However, growth has not been even across the board. Experts have predicted that Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines, and Tanzania will make up 50 percent of the world population by 2050. India is slated to overtake China as the most populous country as early as 2023, Forbes reports. 

The population of those over 65 is steadily increasing while the population of children is decreasing, due to reducing fertility rates all over the globe. This could pose a problem in the future with fewer younger people to support the growing population of elderly people, threatening systems like Social Security.

With the population still growing, especially in developing countries, the threat of climate change becomes more rampant. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) predicts that 3 percent of the population will be displaced because of climate challenges.