World Population Hits 8 Billion, Creating Many Challenges

The world's population will likely hit an estimated 8 billion people on Tuesday, according to a United Nations projection, with much of the growth coming from developing nations in Africa.

Among them is Nigeria, where resources are already stretched to the limit. More than 15 million people in Lagos compete for everything from electricity to light their homes to spots on crowded buses, often for two-hour commutes each way in this sprawling megacity. Some Nigerian children set off for school as early as 5 a.m.

And over the next three decades, the West African nation's population is expected to soar even more: from 216 million this year to 375 million, the U.N. says. That will make Nigeria the fourth-most populous country in the world after India, China and the United States.

“We are already overstretching what we have — the housing, roads, the hospitals, schools. Everything is overstretched," said Gyang Dalyop, an urban planning and development consultant in Nigeria.

The U.N.'s Day of 8 Billion milestone Tuesday is more symbolic than precise, officials are careful to note in a wide-ranging report released over the summer that makes some staggering projections.

The upward trend threatens to leave even more people in developing countries further behind, as governments struggle to provide enough classrooms and jobs for a rapidly growing number of youth, and food insecurity becomes an even more urgent problem.

Nigeria is among eight countries the U.N says will account for more than half the world's population growth between now and 2050 — along with fellow African nations Congo, Ethiopia and Tanzania.

“The population in many countries in sub-Saharan Africa is projected to double between 2022 and 2050, putting additional pressure on already strained resources and challenging policies aimed to reduce poverty and inequalities,” the U.N. report said.

It projected the world's population will reach around 8.5 billion in 2030, 9.7 billion in 2050 and 10.4 billion in 2100.

Other countries rounding out the list with the fastest growing populations are Egypt, Pakistan, the Philippines and India, which is set to overtake China as the world's most populous nation next year.

In Congo's capital, Kinshasa, where more than 12 million people live, many families struggle to find affordable housing and pay school fees. While elementary pupils attend for free, older children's chances depend on their parents' incomes.

“My children took turns" going to school, said Luc Kyungu, a Kinshasa truck driver who has six children. "Two studied while others waited because of money. If I didn't have so many children, they would have finished their studies on time.”

Rapid population growth also means more people vying for scarce water resources and leaves more families facing hunger as climate change increasingly impacts crop production in many parts of the world.

“There is also a greater pressure on the environment, increasing the challenges to food security that is also compounded by climate change,” said Dr. Srinath Reddy, president of the Public Health Foundation of India. “Reducing inequality while focusing on adapting and mitigating climate change should be where our policy makers’ focus should be."

Still, experts say the bigger threat to the environment is consumption, which is highest in developed countries not undergoing big population increases.

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[scottydu]

Listen to them when they tell you that you are the carbon that they want to reduce

[Trollkungen]

Don't worry, with all the new regulations hitting farmers across the world, plenty of people will be starving real soon!

[MontanaCamp]

Bill gates is working on it. No worries

[green]

Better hurry up and get some wars going... oh wait, we're already doing that.

[luisclaudio]

The Problem is not that There’s too many people the problem is that too many people are moving to the same place

[shirleyswagger]

That's not true, the problem is, people living on top of each other, cluttered together, there is VAST amounts of land on this planet that GOD made. They want us to panic about everything

[Trendleader]

Bill Gates isn't gonna be happy about this

[whoson]

It’s higher than that not everyone does a census

[heekomogwin]

Apparently people don’t know what condoms are lol

[xenulus]

Title: Let talk world population.
Google: Have you heard the good word in our new scripture on Climate Change?

[awt]

felt like we were just @ 6+ billion some short time ago? was there some recent spurt? covid babies? the new boomers? either way glad everyones pumping out as many as they can:D

[mariomigueldario]

Build back better let's get rid of some people

[donniegombel]

I see they put the little box of lies on your video. You must be telling a lot of truths in this video.

[TraditonalUSA]

With the money we have sent to Ukraine (so far)
we could have built and launched 15 James Webb telescopes, and still have enough left over to build a border wall.
Earth is just our Beginning. There is still a lot of room on this Planet, and there are infinite other worlds awaiting our arrival.
8 Billion is rookie numbers, gotta pump those numbers up, if we ever want to Take the Stars.

[tyrikmoore]

How can someone who is a part of population say that it’ll be a problem. It’s only a problem when they don’t won’t to do the right thing for society. Greed can take a whole nation out

[wilsoncrystal]

Glad I’m not having kids. I can’t imagine nor do I want to imagine what the world will look like in 20 years.

[edwinperez]

We need people with positions we need to be filled when the old get older and into homes and in general to take those jobs on top of new jobs being created don't believe this shit that it's overpopulation, when in reality we need more babies

[chainscdmc]

That must by why the sea levels are rising. Everyone be getting in there all at once.

[sivl]

I better go buy all the toilet paper so all these newbies can't have any

[pinchebruha]

To all those saying plenty of room elsewhere are forgetting that resources are not infinite. The world needs birth control, education and an honest conversation about why we all need these things.