Top 10 Countries With Biggest Elderly, Urban And Rural Population In 2023
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| Top 10 Countries With The Biggest Population In 2023. Photo KnowInsiders |
What is the world's population now?
The world now has an estimated population of over eight billion people, with the 8,000,000,000 number being hit on November 15, 2022.
The number seems unfathomable when looked at in retrospect, as it was merely 11 years ago that the Earth's population stood at seven billion.
China and India remain the world's most populated countries, with each country having about 1.4 billion people.
While China's birth rate has slowed in recent years, following the government's one child only policy, India is soon expected to become the world's most populated country. In fact, it is estimated that India will have a population of 1.6 billion in 2050.
| Where was the world's eight billionth baby born? While we can't know for sure who was the eight billionth person, the symbolic selection is that of Damian, a baby born in the Nuestra Senora de la Altagracia maternity hospital in Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic. He was even photographed with a special outfit, and will always have this honour as he grows up. |
| Is the world big enough for eight billion people? There is a growing case to be made that the current population will not be able to sustain itself. According to Padraig Carmody, a Geography Professor at Trinity College, the issue lies not with a lack of resources but its distribution. "We have enough resources," Carmody told Newstalk Breakfast. "If you look at some recent statistics, there's actually more obese people in the world than there is malnourished people. "So, it's a question of distribution. So, we actually have the resources to be able to feed everyone for example. "So, it's more a question of maldistribution - it's not primarily population." |
Top 10 Countries With Largest Population Aged Over 65
1.China-167.8 million people aged 65+
2.India-90.7 million
3.US-54.8 million
4.Japan-35.7 million
5.Russia-22.3 million
6.Brazil-20.4 million
7.Germany-18.1 million
8.Indonesia-17.1 million
9.France-14 million
10.Italy-13.9 million
The world is experiencing a seismic demographic shift—and no country is immune to the consequences.
While China also takes the top spot when it comes to total elderly population, it’s worth noting that Japan has a larger per capita population of people aged 65 and over.
According to the Population Reference Bureau, nearly 12% of China’s population is 65 or older, while in Japan, more than 28.2% of people are 65+.
By 2050, there will be 10 billion people on earth, compared to 7.7 billion today—and many of them will be living longer. As a result, the number of elderly people per 100 working-age people will nearly triple—from 20 in 1980, to 58 in 2060.
Populations are getting older in all OECD countries, yet there are clear differences in the pace of aging. For instance, Japan holds the title for having the oldest population, with ⅓ of its citizens already over the age of 65. By 2030, the country’s workforce is expected to fall by 8 million—leading to a major potential labor shortage.
In another example, while South Korea currently boasts a younger than average population, it will age rapidly and end up with the highest old-to-young ratio among developed countries.
READ MORE: What is the Most Populous Country in the World 2023: India to Overtake China
| China's Aging population China has a rapidly aging population. According to Chinese state media, China is already approaching a “moderately aging” scenario, in which 20% of its population is ages 60 and older. By 2035, that percentage is expected to rise to 30%, or more than 400 million people. By 2100, China also appears poised to roughly double its “dependency ratio” – the proportion of its population that is outside working age (either ages 0 to 14 or ages 65 and older), compared with the proportion that is working age (15 to 64). This is even true in the UN’s “low variant” projection. In fact, based on the UN’s middle-of-the-road estimate, there will be more Chinese people outside the working-age population than in it – a dependency ratio of 101.1 – by the year 2079. |
| US Aging Population The United States is aging. The number of people ages 65 and older rose from 19.1 million to 36.8 million between 1967 and 2006.6 Life expectancy at birth climbed from 70.5 years to 77.8 years between 1967 and 2006. |
Top 10 Countries With Biggest Urban Population
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| Photo Business Today |
1.China-861.3 million people living in urban areas
2.India-482 million
3.US-272.4 million
4.Brazil-185.1 million
5.Indonesia-154.9 million
6.Japan-115.5 million
7.Russia-107.7 million
8.Nigeria-107.1 million
9.Mexico-104.1 million
10.Pakistan-82.1 million
Until the Industrial Revolution, most of the world’s population lived in rural areas. But by the early 1900s, urbanization started to skyrocket, and now more than half of the world’s population lives in cities.
China’s urbanization really took off as soon as the country’s economic reforms began in the late 1970s. As of 2021, China’s urban population of roughly 861 million people made up 63% of its overall population.
Tokyo is the world’s largest city with an agglomeration of 37 million inhabitants, followed by New Delhi with 29 million, Shanghai with 26 million, and Mexico City and São Paulo, each with around 22 million inhabitants. Today, Cairo, Mumbai, Beijing and Dhaka all have close to 20 million inhabitants. By 2020, Tokyo’s population is projected to begin to decline, while Delhi is projected to continue growing and to become the most populous city in the world around 2028.
By 2030, the world is projected to have 43 megacities with more than 10 million inhabitants, most of them in developing regions. However, some of the fastest-growing urban agglomerations are cities with fewer than 1 million inhabitants, many of them located in Asia and Africa. While one in eight people live in 33 megacities worldwide, close to half of the world’s urban dwellers reside in much smaller settlements with fewer than 500,000 inhabitants.
| Sustainable urbanization is key to successful development Understanding the key trends in urbanization likely to unfold over the coming years is crucial to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, including efforts to forge a new framework of urban development. As the world continues to urbanize, sustainable development depends increasingly on the successful management of urban growth, especially in low-income and lower-middle-income countries where the pace of urbanization is projected to be the fastest. Many countries will face challenges in meeting the needs of their growing urban populations, including for housing, transportation, energy systems and other infrastructure, as well as for employment and basic services such as education and health care. Integrated policies to improve the lives of both urban and rural dwellers are needed, while strengthening the linkages between urban and rural areas, building on their existing economic, social and environmental ties. To ensure that the benefits of urbanization are fully shared and inclusive, policies to manage urban growth need to ensure access to infrastructure and social services for all, focusing on the needs of the urban poor and other vulnerable groups for housing, education, health care, decent work and a safe environment. |
Top 10 Countries With Biggest Rural Population
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| Photo Statesman |
1.India-898 million people living in rural areas
2.China-540.8 million
3.Pakistan-138.8 million
4.Indonesia-118.6 million
5.Bangladesh-101.8 million
6.Nigeria-99 million
7.Ethiopia-90 million
8.Vietnam-61 million
9.Egypt-58.6 million
10.Philippines-57.6 million
Today, 55% of the world’s population lives in urban areas, a proportion that is expected to increase to 68% by 2050. Projections show that urbanization, the gradual shift in residence of the human population from rural to urban areas, combined with the overall growth of the world’s population could add another 2.5 billion people to urban areas by 2050, with close to 90% of this increase taking place in Asia and Africa, according to a new United Nations data set launched today.
The 2018 Revision of World Urbanization Prospects produced by the Population Division of the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA) notes that future increases in the size of the world’s urban population are expected to be highly concentrated in just a few countries. Together, India, China and Nigeria will account for 35% of the projected growth of the world’s urban population between 2018 and 2050. By 2050, it is projected that India will have added 416 million urban dwellers, China 255 million and Nigeria 189 million.
The urban population of the world has grown rapidly from 751 million in 1950 to 4.2 billion in 2018. Asia, despite its relatively lower level of urbanization, is home to 54% of the world’s urban population, followed by Europe and Africa with 13% each.
Today, the most urbanized regions include Northern America (with 82% of its population living in urban areas in 2018), Latin America and the Caribbean (81%), Europe (74%) and Oceania (68%). The level of urbanization in Asia is now approximating 50%. In contrast, Africa remains mostly rural, with 43% of its population living in urban areas.
Many Asian and East African countries rise to the front when it comes to rural population comparisons, but India easily has the world’s largest share with around 898 million people.
As of 2021 figures, about 65% of India’s population is rural. This is actually a significant drop compared to the 1960s, when the country’s rural population made up a whopping 82% of its overall population.
Still, that’s still significantly higher than Western countries. For instance, only 17% of the U.S. population lives in rural areas.
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