Demographics of the world

Earth has a human population of over 8.2 billion as of 2025, with an overall population density of 50 people per km². Nearly 60% of the world's population lives in Asia, with more than 2.8 billion in the countries of India and China combined. The percentage shares of China, India and rest of South Asia of the world population have remained at similar levels for the last few thousand years of recorded history.
The world's population is predominantly urban and suburban, and there has been significant migration toward cities and urban centers. The urban population jumped from 29% in 1950 to 55.3% in 2018. Interpolating from the United Nations prediction that the world will be 51.3% urban by 2010, Ron Wimberley, Libby Morris and Gregory Fulkerson estimated 23 May 2007 would have been the first time the urban population was more populous than the rural population in history. India and China are the most populous countries, as the birth rate has consistently dropped in wealthy countries and until recently remained high in poorer countries. Jakarta is the largest urban agglomeration in the world.
As of 2024, the total fertility rate of the world is estimated at 2.25 children per woman, which is slightly below the global average for the replacement fertility rate of approximately 2.33. However, world population growth is unevenly distributed, with the total fertility rate ranging from the world's lowest of 0.8 in South Korea, to the highest of 6.7 in Niger. The United Nations estimated an annual population increase of 1.14% for the year of 2000.
The current world population growth is approximately 1.09%. People under 15 years of age made up over a quarter of the world population, and people age 65 and over made up nearly ten percent in 2021. The world's literacy rate has increased dramatically in the last 40 years, from 66.7% in 1979 to 86.3% today. Lower literacy levels are mostly attributable to poverty and are found mostly in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa.
The world population more than tripled during the 20th century from about 1.65 billion in 1900 to 5.97 billion in 1999. It reached the 2 billion mark in 1927, the 3 billion mark in 1960, 4 billion in 1974, and 5 billion in 1987. The overall population of the world is approximately 8 billion as of November 2022. Currently, population growth is fastest among low wealth, least developed countries. The UN projects a world population of 9.15 billion in 2050, a 32.7% increase from 6.89 billion in 2010.

History

Historical migration of human populations begins with the movement of Homo erectus out of Africa across Eurasia about a million years ago. Homo sapiens appear to have occupied all of Africa about 300,000 years ago, moved out of Africa 50,000 – 60,000 years ago, and had spread across Australia, Asia and Europe by 30,000 years BC. Migration to the Americas took place 20,000 to 15,000 years ago, and by 2,000 years ago, most of the Pacific Islands were colonized.
Until c. 10,000 years ago, humans lived as hunter-gatherers. They generally lived in small nomadic groups known as band societies. The advent of agriculture prompted the Neolithic Revolution, when access to food surplus led to the formation of permanent human settlements. About 6,000 years ago, the first proto-states developed in Mesopotamia, Egypt's Nile Valley and the Indus Valley. Early human settlements were dependent on proximity to water and, depending on the lifestyle, other natural resources used for subsistence. But humans have a great capacity for altering their habitats by means of technology.
Since 1800, the human population has increased from one billion to over eight billion. In 2004, some 2.5 billion out of 6.3 billion people lived in urban areas. In February 2008, the U.N. estimated that half the world's population would live in urban areas by the end of the year. Problems for humans living in cities include various forms of pollution and crime, especially in inner city and suburban slums. Both overall population numbers and the proportion residing in cities are expected to increase significantly in the coming decades.

World Population, AD 1–1998 (in thousands)

Source: Maddison and others..

Year	1	1000	1500	1600	1700	1820	1870	1913	1950	1973	1998
Western Europe	24 700	25 413	57 268	73 778	81 460	132 888	187 532	261 007	305 060	358 390	388 399
Eastern Europe	4 750	6 500	13 500	16 950	18 800	36 415	52 182	79 604	87 289	110 490	121 006
Former USSR	3 900	7 101	16 950	20 700	26 550	54 765	88 765	156 192	180 050	249 748	290 866
Total Europe	33 350	39 013	87 718	111 428	126 810	224 068	328 386	496 803	572 399	718 628	800 271
United States	680	1 300	2 000	1 500	1 000	9 981	40 241	97 606	152 271	212 909	279 040
Other Western Offshoots	490	660	800	800	750	1 249	5 892	13 795	23 823	39 036	52 859
Total Western Offshoots	1 170	1 960	2 800	2 300	1 750	11 230	46 133	111 401	176 094	250 945	323 420
Mexico	2 200	4 500	7 500	2 500	4 500	6 587	9 219	14 970	28 485	57 643	98 553
Other Latin America	3 400	6 900	10 000	6 100	7 550	14 633	30 754	65 545	137 352	250 807	409 070
Total Latin America	5 600	11 400	17 500	8 600	12 050	21 220	39 973	80 515	165 837	308 450	507 623
Japan	3 000	7 500	15 400	18 500	27 000	31 000	34 437	51 672	83 563	108 660	126 469
China	59 600	59 000	103 000	160 000	138 000	381 000	358 000	437 140	546 815	881 940	1 242 700
India	75 000	77 000	113 000	145 000	201 000	209 000	239 000	319 000	362 000	549 000	1 029 000
Other Asia	36 600	41 400	55 400	65 000	71 800	89 366	119 619	185 092	392 481	677 214	1 172 243
Total Asia	171 200	175 400	268 400	360 000	374 800	679 366	730 619	925 932	1 298 296	2 139 154	3 389 943
Africa	16 500	33 000	46 000	55 000	61 000	74 208	90 466	124 697	228 342	387 645	759 954
World	230,820	268,273	437,818	555,828	603,410	1,041,092	1,270,014	1,791,020	2,524,531	3,913,482	5,907,680

Shares of world population, AD 1–1998 (% of world total)

Source: Maddison and others..

Year	1	1000	1500	1600	1700	1820	1870	1913	1950	1973	1998
Western Europe	10.7	9.5	13.1	13.3	13.5	12.8	14.8	14.6	12.1	9.2	6.6
Eastern Europe	2.1	2.4	3.1	3.0	3.1	3.5	4.1	4.4	3.5	2.8	2.0
Former USSR	1.7	2.6	3.9	3.7	4.4	5.3	7.0	8.7	7.1	6.4	4.9
Total Europe	14.5	14.5	20.1	20.0	21.0	21.6	25.9	27.7	22.7	18.4	13.5
United States	0.3	0.5	0.5	0.3	0.2	1.0	3.2	5.4	6.0	5.4	4.6
Other Western Offshoots	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.5	0.8	0.9	1.0	0.9
Total Western Offshoots	0.5	0.7	0.6	0.4	0.3	1.1	3.6	6.2	7.0	6.4	5.5
Mexico	1.0	1.7	1.7	0.4	0.7	0.6	0.7	0.8	1.1	1.5	1.7
Other Latin America	1.5	2.6	2.3	1.1	1.3	1.4	2.4	3.7	5.4	6.4	6.9
Total Latin America	2.4	4.2	4.0	1.5	2.0	2.0	3.1	4.5	6.6	7.9	8.6
Japan	1.3	2.8	3.5	3.3	4.5	3.0	2.7	2.9	3.3	2.8	2.1
China	25.8	22.0	23.5	28.8	22.9	36.6	28.2	24.4	21.7	22.5	21.0
India	32.5	28.0	25.1	24.3	27.3	20.1	19.9	17.0	14.2	14.8	16.5
Other Asia	15.9	15.4	12.7	11.7	11.9	8.6	9.4	10.3	15.5	17.3	19.8
Total Asia	74.2	65.4	61.3	64.8	62.1	65.3	57.5	51.7	51.4	54.7	57.4
Africa	7.1	12.3	10.5	9.9	10.1	7.1	7.1	7.0	9.0	9.9	12.9
World	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0

Vital statistics

The following estimates of global trends in various demographic indicators from 1950 to 2021 are from UN DESA's World Population Prospects 2022. In July 2022, UN DESA published its 2022 World Population Prospects, a biennially-updated database where key demographic indicators are estimated and projected worldwide and on the country and regional level.

Year	World population	Live births	Deaths	Growth	Crude birth rate	Crude death rate	Population growth	Total fertility rate	Infant mortality	Life expectancy
1950	2 499 322	92 083	48 789	43 294	36.8	19.5	1.73	4.86	143.4	46.5
1951	2 543 130	92 837	48 515	44 322	36.5	19.1	1.74	4.83	141.3	47.1
1952	2 590 271	97 607	47 647	49 960	37.7	18.4	1.93	5.01	137.3	48.2
1953	2 640 279	97 556	47 499	50 057	36.9	18.0	1.90	4.94	134.5	48.8
1954	2 691 979	100 348	47 003	53 345	37.3	17.5	1.98	5.01	131.7	49.6
1955	2 746 072	101 807	46 966	54 841	37.1	17.1	2.00	5.01	128.8	50.1
1956	2 801 003	101 827	46 807	55 020	36.4	16.7	1.96	4.94	125.8	50.6
1957	2 857 867	105 978	47 269	58 709	37.1	16.5	2.05	5.08	123.7	50.9
1958	2 916 108	104 557	46 783	57 774	35.9	16.0	1.98	4.94	121.1	51.5
1959	2 970 292	101 922	51 327	50 595	34.3	17.3	1.70	4.74	129.6	49.3
1960	3 019 233	102 262	54 974	47 288	33.9	18.2	1.57	4.70	135.1	47.7
1961	3 068 371	100 990	50 003	50 987	32.9	16.3	1.66	4.57	124.2	50.4
1962	3 126 687	112 053	46 406	65 647	35.8	14.8	2.10	5.03	112.9	53.1
1963	3 195 779	119 819	47 280	72 539	37.5	14.8	2.27	5.32	110.1	53.6
1964	3 267 212	117 393	47 065	70 328	35.9	14.4	2.15	5.13	108.2	54.2
1965	3 337 112	117 932	48 460	69 472	35.3	14.5	2.08	5.08	108.4	53.9
1966	3 406 417	117 182	48 044	69 138	34.4	14.1	2.03	4.96	106.8	54.5
1967	3 475 448	116 840	47 915	68 925	33.6	13.8	1.98	4.86	105.0	54.9
1968	3 546 811	121 750	47 948	73 802	34.3	13.5	2.08	4.96	101.9	55.5
1969	3 620 655	122 123	48 235	73 888	33.7	13.3	2.04	4.87	100.2	55.8
1970	3 695 390	124 117	48 534	75 583	33.6	13.1	2.05	4.83	98.5	56.1
1971	3 770 163	123 647	49 684	73 963	32.8	13.2	1.96	4.68	97.7	55.9
1972	3 844 801	123 275	47 962	75 313	32.1	12.5	1.96	4.55	95.0	57.1
1973	3 920 252	123 269	47 680	75 589	31.4	12.2	1.93	4.42	93.4	57.6
1974	3 995 517	122 437	47 494	74 943	30.6	11.9	1.88	4.27	92.0	58.0
1975	4 069 437	120 491	47 593	72 898	29.6	11.7	1.79	4.08	90.7	58.3
1976	4 142 506	120 648	47 408	73 240	29.1	11.4	1.77	3.98	88.7	58.7
1977	4 215 772	120 040	46 746	73 294	28.5	11.1	1.74	3.85	86.9	59.4
1978	4 289 658	121 337	46 860	74 477	28.3	10.9	1.74	3.79	84.9	59.7
1979	4 365 583	124 288	46 914	77 294	28.5	10.7	1.77	3.78	82.6	60.2
1980	4 444 008	126 793	47 317	79 476	28.5	10.6	1.79	3.75	80.4	60.6
1981	4 524 628	129 153	47 388	81 765	28.5	10.5	1.81	3.72	78.3	61.0
1982	4 607 985	132 513	47 562	84 951	28.8	10.3	1.84	3.71	76.1	61.4
1983	4 691 884	130 983	48 134	82 849	27.9	10.3	1.77	3.58	75.7	61.6
1984	4 775 836	133 397	48 341	85 056	27.9	10.1	1.78	3.55	74.1	61.9
1985	4 861 731	135 420	48 685	86 735	27.9	10.0	1.78	3.52	72.4	62.2
1986	4 950 063	138 420	48 487	89 933	28.0	9.8	1.82	3.51	70.4	62.8
1987	5 040 984	140 545	48 634	91 911	27.9	9.6	1.82	3.48	68.3	63.2
1988	5 132 294	139 993	49 284	90 709	27.3	9.6	1.77	3.39	67.8	63.3
1989	5 223 704	141 177	49 064	92 113	27.0	9.4	1.76	3.35	65.9	63.8
1990	5 316 176	142 451	49 620	92 831	26.8	9.3	1.75	3.31	64.6	64.0
1991	5 406 246	137 392	50 082	87 310	25.4	9.3	1.62	3.13	64.6	64.1
1992	5 492 686	135 754	50 182	85 572	24.7	9.1	1.56	3.04	63.8	64.3
1993	5 577 434	134 693	50 769	83 924	24.2	9.1	1.51	2.98	62.6	64.4
1994	5 660 728	134 185	51 519	82 666	23.7	9.1	1.46	2.93	61.6	64.5
1995	5 743 219	133 673	51 355	82 318	23.3	8.9	1.43	2.88	60.6	64.9
1996	5 825 145	133 053	51 519	81 534	22.8	8.8	1.40	2.83	59.4	65.1
1997	5 906 481	132 598	51 459	81 139	22.5	8.7	1.37	2.79	58.1	65.5
1998	5 987 312	132 287	51 762	80 525	22.1	8.6	1.35	2.76	57.0	65.7
1999	6 067 758	132 364	51 997	80 367	21.8	8.6	1.33	2.73	55.1	66.1
2000	6 148 899	134 014	52 100	81 914	21.8	8.5	1.33	2.73	53.3	66.5
2001	6 230 747	133 878	52 095	81 783	21.5	8.4	1.31	2.70	51.8	66.8
2002	6 312 407	134 020	52 481	81 539	21.2	8.3	1.29	2.67	50.1	67.1
2003	6 393 898	134 302	52 858	81 444	21.0	8.3	1.27	2.65	48.3	67.5
2004	6 475 751	135 228	52 965	82 263	20.9	8.2	1.27	2.64	46.6	67.8
2005	6 558 176	135 800	53 213	82 587	20.7	8.1	1.26	2.62	44.9	68.2
2006	6 641 416	136 910	53 016	83 894	20.6	8.0	1.26	2.61	43.1	68.7
2007	6 725 949	138 563	53 392	85 171	20.6	7.9	1.27	2.61	41.4	69.1
2008	6 811 597	140 164	54 038	86 126	20.6	7.9	1.26	2.61	39.9	69.3
2009	6 898 306	141 201	53 910	87 291	20.5	7.8	1.27	2.61	38.4	69.8
2010	6 985 603	141 633	54 329	87 304	20.3	7.8	1.25	2.59	37.1	70.1
2011	7 073 125	142 135	54 394	87 741	20.1	7.7	1.24	2.57	35.8	70.5
2012	7 161 698	144 194	54 790	89 404	20.1	7.7	1.25	2.59	34.4	70.9
2013	7 250 593	143 422	55 034	88 388	19.8	7.6	1.22	2.56	33.5	71.2
2014	7 339 013	143 671	55 218	88 453	19.6	7.5	1.21	2.55	32.3	71.6
2015	7 426 598	142 608	55 893	86 715	19.2	7.5	1.17	2.52	31.5	71.8
2016	7 513 474	143 239	56 201	87 038	19.1	7.5	1.16	2.53	30.5	72.1
2017	7 599 822	142 624	56 966	85 658	18.8	7.5	1.13	2.50	29.6	72.3
2018	7 683 790	139 629	57 352	82 277	18.2	7.5	1.07	2.44	29.2	72.6
2019	7 764 951	137 984	57 939	80 045	17.8	7.5	1.03	2.41	29.2	72.8
2020	7 840 953	135 133	63 174	71 959	17.2	8.1	0.92	2.35	28.7	72.0
2021	7 909 295	133 975	69 248	64 727	16.9	8.8	0.82	2.32	28.4	71.0
2022	8 021 407	132 407	62 279	70 197	16.5	7.8	0.88	2.27	28.2	72.6

Notable events in World demography:

1958–1961– Great Chinese Famine
1989 - Fall of the Berlin Wall, Revolutions of 1989
2020–2022– COVID-19

Current world population and latest projection

Region	2022	2030	2050
Sub-Saharan Africa	1,152	1,401	2,094
Northern Africa and Western Asia	549	617	771
Southern and Central Asia	2,065	2,248	2,575
Eastern Asia	1,642	1,647	1,522
Southeastern Asia	675	721	771
Europe and North America	1120	1129	1125
Latin America and the Caribbean	658	695	749
Australia/New Zealand	31	34	38
Other Oceania	14	15	20
World	7,942	8,512	9,687

Major cities

The world has hundreds of cities across it with most being in coastal regions. According to the latest official data, the world population is 8,209,580,000 people.
, about 3 billion people live in or around urban areas.
The following table shows the populations of the top thirteen conglomerations.

Rank	City	Population	Country	Statistical concept	Area	Density
1	Tokyo	37,500,000		Metropolitan area	13,500	2,777.78
2	Shanghai	24,180,000		Urban agglomeration	3,920	6,168
3	New York City	23,600,000		Urban agglomeration	21,483	1,098
4	Mexico City	22,460,000		Metropolitan area	7,815	2,490
5	Delhi	22,157,000		Urban agglomeration	33,578	659
6	São Paulo	22,048,504		Metropolitan Area	7,946.96	2,714.45
7	Moscow	21,534,777		Metropolitan area	26,000	770
8	Lagos	21,000,000		Metropolitan area	1,171	17,933
9	Cairo	20,901,000		Metropolitan area	1,709	10,400
10	Karachi	20,382,881		Metropolitan area	3,530	4,224
11	Mumbai	20,041,000		Urban agglomeration	1,097	18,268
12	Kolkata	15,552,000		Urban agglomeration	1,026	15,158
13	Dhaka	14,648,000		Metropolitan area	1,600	9,155

Population density

The world's population is over 8 billion and Earth's total surface area is. Therefore, the worldwide human population density is 8 billion ÷ =. If only the Earth's land area of is taken into account, then human population density increases to.
Several of the most densely populated territories in the world are city-states, microstates or dependencies. These territories share a relatively small area and a high urbanization level, with an economically specialized city population drawing also on rural resources outside the area, illustrating the difference between high population density and overpopulation.

Religion

The table below lists religions classified by philosophy; however, religious philosophy is not always the determining factor in local practice. Please note that this table includes heterodox movements as adherents to their larger philosophical category, although this may be disputed by others within that category. For example, Cao Đài is listed because it claims to be a separate category from Buddhism, while Hòa Hảo is not, even though they are similar new religious movements.
The population numbers below are computed by a combination of census reports, random surveys, and self-reported attendance numbers, but results can vary widely depending on the way questions are phrased, the definitions of religion used and the bias of the agencies or organizations conducting the survey. Informal or unorganized religions are especially difficult to count. Some organizations may wildly inflate their numbers.
Since the late 19th century, the demographics of religion have changed a great deal. Some countries with a historically large Christian population have experienced a significant decline in the numbers of professed active Christians: see demographics of atheism. Symptoms of the decline in active participation in Christian religious life include declining recruitment for the priesthood and monastic life, as well as diminishing attendance at church. On the other hand, since the 19th century, large areas of sub-Saharan Africa have been converted to Christianity, and this area of the world has the highest population growth rate. In the realm of Western civilization, there has been an increase in the number of people who identify themselves as secular humanists. Despite the decline, Christianity remains the dominant religion in the Western world, where 70% of the population is Christian. In many countries, such as the People's Republic of China, communist governments have discouraged religion, making it difficult to count the actual number of believers. However, after the collapse of communism in numerous countries of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, religious life has been experiencing resurgence there, in the form of traditional Eastern Christianity. While, Islam however has gained considerably in the Soviet Unions former republics in Central Asia.
Following is some available data based on the work of the World Christian Encyclopedia:

Growth rate of adherents

Faith	1970–1985	1990–2000	2000–2005
Islam	2.74%	2.13%	1.84%
Baháʼí Faith	3.65%	2.28%	1.70%
Hinduism	2.34%	1.69%	1.57%
Christianity	1.64%	1.36%	1.32%
Judaism	1.09%	1.87%	1.62%
Buddhism	1.67%	1.09%
Zoroastrianism		2.65%

The annual growth in the world population over the same period is 1.41%.
Studies conducted by the Pew Research Center have found that, generally, poorer nations had a larger proportion of citizens who found religion to be very important than richer nations, with the exceptions of the United States and Kuwait.
In the book Shall the Religious Inherit the Earth?, Eric Kaufmann argues that demographic trends point to religious fundamentalists greatly increasing as a share of the population over the next century. Other scholars have argued that this may be a form of "cultural selection" that will affect future demographics due to certain religious groups having high fertility that is unexplained by other factors such as income.

Marriage

The average age of marriage varies greatly from country to country and has varied through time. Women tend to marry earlier than men and currently varies from 17.6 for women in Niger, to 32.4 for women in Denmark while men range from 22.6 in Mozambique to 35.1 in Sweden.
In 2021, 13.3 million babies, or about 10 per cent of the total worldwide, were born to mothers under 20 years old.

Age structure

According to the 2021 CIA World Factbook, around 25% of the world's population is below 15 years of age.

0–14 years: 25.2%
15–64 years: 65.1%
65 years and over: 9.7%
Median Age – 31 years

According to a report by the Global Social Change Research Project, worldwide, the percent of the population age 0–14 declined from 34% in 1950 to 27% in 2010. The elderly population increased during the same period from 8% to 11%.

Region	Median age
Asia	31
Africa	18
Europe	42
North America	35
South America	31
Oceania	33

Population growth rate

Globally, the growth rate of the human population has been declining since peaking in 1962 and 1963 at 2.20% per annum. In 2009, the estimated annual growth rate was 1.1%. The CIA World Factbook gives the world annual birthrate, mortality rate, and growth rate as 1.915%, 0.812%, and 1.092% respectively The last one hundred years have seen a rapid increase in population due to medical advances and massive increase in agricultural productivity made possible by the Green Revolution.
The actual annual growth in the number of humans fell from its peak of 88.0 million in 1989, to a low of 73.9 million in 2003, after which it rose again to 75.2 million in 2006. Since then, annual growth has declined. In 2009, the human population increased by 74.6 million, which is projected to fall steadily to about 41 million per annum in 2050, at which time the population will have increased to about 9.2 billion. Each region of the globe has seen great reductions in growth rate in recent decades, though growth rates remain above 2% in some countries of the Middle East and Sub-Saharan Africa, and also in South Asia, Southeast Asia, and Latin America.
Some countries experienced negative population growth, especially in Eastern Europe mainly due to low fertility rates, high death rates and emigration. In Southern Africa, growth is slowing due to the high number of HIV-related deaths. Some Western Europe countries might also encounter negative population growth. Japan's population began decreasing in 2005.
Population in the world increased from 1990 to 2008 with 1,423 billion and 27% growth. Measured by persons, the increase was highest in India and China. Population growth was highest in Qatar and United Arab Emirates.
In 2022, the world population reached 8 billion. The latest projections by the United Nations suggest that the global population could grow to around 8.5 billion in 2030, 9.7 billion in 2050 and 10.4 billion in 2100.
More than half of the projected increase in global population up to 2050 will be concentrated in just eight
countries: Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines and Tanzania.

Births

In 2021, most births worldwide occurred in two regions: sub-Saharan Africa
, the region with the highest fertility level, Central and Southern Asia and Eastern and South-Eastern Asia.

Birth count

The 10 countries with the highest estimated number of births in 2021 according to the World Population Prospects 2022 of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs.

Rank	Country	Number of births
1		23,114,000
2		10,881,567
3		7,923,294
4		6,374,741
5		4,496,383
6		4,034,953
7		3,895,734
8		3,722,822
9		3,019,672
10		2,760,958

Birth rate

As of 2009, the average birth rate for the whole world is 19.95 per year per 1000 total population, a 0.48% decline from 2003's world birth rate of 20.43 per 1000 total population.

Years	CBR	Years	CBR
1950–1955	37.2	2000–2005	21.2
1955–1960	35.3	2005–2010	20.3
1960–1965	34.9	2010–2015	19.4
1965–1970	33.4	2015–2020	18.2
1970–1975	30.8	2020–2025	16.9
1975–1980	28.4	2025–2030	15.8
1980–1985	27.9	2030–2035	15.0
1985–1990	27.3	2035–2040	14.5
1990–1995	24.7	2040–2045	14.0
1995–2000	22.5	2045–2050	13.4

According to the CIA – The World Factbook, the country with the highest birth rate currently is Niger at 51.26 births per 1000 people. The country with the lowest birth rate is Japan at 7.64 births per 1000 people. Hong Kong, a Special Administrative Region of China, is at 7.42 births per 1000 people. As compared to the 1950s, birth rate was at 36 births per 1000 in the 1950s, birth rate has declined by 16 births per 1000 people. In July 2011, the U.S. National Institutes of Health announced that the adolescent birth rate continues to decline.
Birth rates vary even within the same geographic areas. In Europe, as of July 2011, Ireland's birth rate is 16.5 percent, which is 3.5 percent higher than the next-ranked country, the UK. France has a birth rate of 12.8 per cent while Sweden is at 12.3 percent. In July 2011, the UK's Office for National Statistics announced a 2.4% increase in live births in the UK in 2010 alone. This is the highest birth rate in the UK in 40 years. By contrast, the birth rate in Germany is only 8.3 per 1,000, which is so low that both the UK and France, which have significantly smaller populations, produced more births in 2010. Birth rates also vary within the same geographic area, based on different demographic groups. For example, in April 2011, the U.S. CDC announced that the birth rate for women over the age of 40 in the U.S. rose between 2007 and 2009, while it fell among every other age group during the same time span. In August 2011, Taiwan's government announced that its birth rate declined in the previous year, despite the fact that it implemented a host of approaches to encourage its citizens to have babies.
Birth rates ranging from 10 to 20 births per 1000 are considered low, while rates from 40 to 50 births per 1000 are considered high. There are problems associated with both an extremely high birth rate and an extremely low birth rate. High birth rates can cause stress on the government welfare and family programs to support a youthful population. Additional problems faced by a country with a high birth rate include educating a growing number of children, creating jobs for these children when they enter the workforce, and dealing with the environmental effects that a large population can produce. Low birth rates can put stress on the government to provide adequate senior welfare systems and also the stress on families to support the elders themselves. There will be less children or working age population to support the constantly growing aging population.

Highest and lowest birth rates (annual births per 1000 persons)

The ten countries with the highest and lowest crude birth rate, according to the 2018 and 2022 CIA World Factbook estimates, are:

Death rate

The ten countries with the highest and lowest crude death rate, according to the 2018 and 2022 CIA World Factbook estimates, are:

Rank

Country

Highest death rates

Serbia

Total fertility rate

The Total fertility rate is the average number of children born per mother. In 2021, fertility levels high were found in sub-Saharan Africa, Oceania excluding Australia and New Zealand, Northern Africa and Western Asia
, and Central and Southern Asia.
There is an inverse correlation between income and fertility, wherein developed countries usually have a much lower fertility rate. Various fertility factors may be involved, such as education and urbanization. Mortality rates are low, birth control is understood and easily accessible, and costs are often deemed very high because of education, clothing, feeding, and social amenities. With wealth, contraception becomes affordable. However, in countries like Iran where contraception was made artificially affordable before the economy accelerated, birth rate also rapidly declined. Further, longer periods of time spent getting higher education often mean women have children later in life. Female labor participation rate also has substantial negative impact on fertility. However, this effect is neutralized among Nordic or liberalist countries.
In undeveloped countries on the other hand, families desire children for their labour and as caregivers for their parents in old age. Fertility rates are also higher due to the lack of access to contraceptives, generally lower levels of female education, patriarchal culture and lower rates of female employment in industry.
;Total fertility rates by region, 2010–2015:
Total fertility rate is the number of children born per woman.

Region	Total fertility rate
World	2.5
Africa	4.7
Sub-Saharan Africa	5.1
Western Africa	5.5
Middle Africa	5.8
Eastern Africa	4.9
Northern Africa	3.3
Southern Africa	2.5
Oceania	2.4
Asia	2.2
Europe	1.6
Latin America-Caribbean	2.2
North America	1.9

Health

The average number of hospital beds per 1,000 population is 2.94. It is highest in Switzerland and lowest in Mexico
96% of the urban population has access to improved drinking water, while only 78% of rural inhabitants have improved drinking water. A total average of 87% of urban and rural have access to improved drinking water.
76% of the urban population has access to sanitation facilities, while only 45% of the rural population has access. A total world average of 39% do not have access to sanitation facilities.
As of 2009, there are an estimated 33.3 million people living with HIV/AIDS, which is approximately 0.8% of the world population, and there have been an estimated 1.8 million deaths attributed to HIV/AIDS.
As of 2010, 925 million people are undernourished.
Life Expectancy at Birth:

total population: 71.4 years
male: 69.1 years
female: 73.8 years

Years	LEB	Years	LEB
1950–1955	47.9	2000–2005	67.2
1955–1960	49.3	2005–2010	69.1
1960–1965	51.2	2010–2015	70.8
1965–1970	55.5	2015–2020	72.0
1970–1975	58.1	2020–2025	73.0
1975–1980	60.3	2025–2030	73.8
1980–1985	62.1	2030–2035	74.7
1985–1990	63.7	2035–2040	75.5
1990–1995	64.6	2040–2045	76.2
1995–2000	65.7	2045–2050	77.0

Sex ratio

The value for the entire world population is 1.02 males/female, with 1.07 at birth, 1.06 for those under 15, 1.02 for those between 15 and 64, and 0.78 for those over 65.
The Northern Mariana Islands have the highest female ratio with 0.77 males per female. Qatar has the highest male ratio, with 2.87 males/female. For the group aged below 15, Sierra Leone has the highest female ratio with 0.96 males/female, and Georgia and China are tied for the highest male ratio with 1.13 males/female.
The "First World" G7 members all have a gender ratio in the range of 0.95–0.98 for the total population, of 1.05–1.07 at birth, of 1.05–1.06 for the group below 15, of 1.00–1.04 for the group aged 15–64, and of 0.70–0.75 for those over 65.
Countries on the Arabian Peninsula tend to have a "natural" ratio of about 1.05 at birth but a very high ratio of males for those over 65, indicating either an above-average mortality rate for females or a below-average mortality for males, or, more likely in this case, a large population of aging male guest workers. Conversely, countries of Eastern Europe tend to have a "normal" ratio at birth but a very low ratio of males among those over 65 ; similarly, Armenia has a far above average male ratio at birth, and a below-average male ratio above 65. This effect may be caused by emigration and higher male mortality as result of higher post-Soviet era deaths; it may also be related to the enormous rate of alcoholism in the former Soviet states. Another possible contributory factor is an aging population, with a higher than normal proportion of relatively elderly people: we recall that due to higher differential mortality rates the ratio of males to females reduces for each year of age.

Unemployment rate

8.7%
8.2%
note: 30% combined unemployment and underemployment in many non-industrialized countries; developed countries typically 4%–12% unemployment

Languages

Worldwide, English is used widely as a lingua franca and can be seen to be the dominant language at this time. The world's largest language by native speakers is Mandarin Chinese which is a first language of around 1,100 million people, or 12.44% of the population, predominantly in Greater China. Spanish is spoken by around 330 to 400 million people, predominantly in the Americas and Spain. Hindustani is spoken by about 370 to 420 million speakers, mostly in India and Pakistan.
Arabic is spoken by around 350 million people predominantly in Arab world. Bengali is spoken by around 250 million people worldwide, predominantly in Bangladesh and India. Portuguese is spoken by about 230 million speakers in Portugal, Brazil, East Timor, and Southern Africa.
There are numerous other languages, grouped into nine major families:

There are also hundreds of non-verbal sign languages.

Education

Total population: 83.7% over the age of 15 can read and write, 88.3% male and 79.2% female
note: over two-thirds of the world's 793 million illiterate adults are found in only eight countries ; of all the illiterate adults in the world, two-thirds are women; extremely low literacy rates are concentrated in three regions, the Arab states, South and West Asia, and Sub-Saharan Africa, where around one-third of the men and half of all women are illiterate
As of 2008, the school life expectancy for a man or woman is 11 years.