1. Adult Literacy, by Region
Literacy Rates, by Sex, 2000
Percent
Nearly all men and women in more developed regions can read and write.
However, literacy rates are lower in the less developed regions. Women’s literacy rates in particular vary significantly by region: from 51 percent in Africa, to 68 percent in Asia, to 88 percent in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Overall, more men than women are literate. This is especially striking in the Arab states and North Africa, where nearly three-fourths of men but less than half of all women are literate.
Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics (

2. Age Distribution of the World’s Population
Population Structures by Age and Sex, 2005
Millions
Less Developed Regions
More Developed Regions
Age
0-4
Male
Female
Male
Female
Sex and age distributions show that less developed countries have significantly younger populations than more developed countries.
Roughly one-third of the population in less developed countries is under age 15. In many sub-Saharan African countries, this proportion rises to nearly one-half of the population. In contrast, less than one-fifth of the population in more developed countries is under 15.
Today there are more than 2 billion young people below age 20 in less developed regions—the age cohort that will soon become the world’s newest group of parents.
Young age structures in the less developed countries are due mainly to higher levels of childbearing in recent decades.
Source: United Nations, World Population Prospects: The 2002 Revision (medium scenario), 2003.

3. Annual Increase in World Population
Millions
Source: United Nations, World Population Prospects: The 2002 Revision, 2003.

4. Birth and Death Rates, Worldwide
Rates of birth, death, and natural increase per 1,000 population
Natural Increase
Birth rates and death rates are declining around the world. Overall economic development, public health programs, and improvements in food production and distribution, water, and sanitation have led to dramatic declines in death rates. And women now have fewer children than they did in the 1950s.
Nevertheless, if death rates are lower than birth rates, populations will still grow.
Also, it is possible for absolute numbers of births to increase even when birth rates decline.
Source: United Nations, World Population Prospects: The 2002 Revision (medium scenario), 2003.

5. The Classic Stages of Demographic Transition
Women worldwide are having fewer children in their lifetimes, from an average of five children born per woman in the 1950s to below three in 2000.
All of the most recent projections put forth by the UN assume that levels of childbearing will continue to decline in the next century.
Note: Natural increase is produced from the excess of births over deaths.

6. Desire for Smaller Families
Women With Two Children Who Say They Want No More Children
Percent
Source: ORC Macro, Demographic and Health Surveys,

7. Diverging Trends in Fertility Reduction
Average number of children per woman
Source: United Nations, World Population Prospects: The 2002 Revision (medium scenario), 2003.

8. Growth in More, Less Developed Countries
Billions
Less Developed Countries
More Developed Countries
Source: United Nations, World Population Prospects: The 2002 Revision (medium scenario), 2003.

9. Largest Cities, Worldwide
Millions
The largest cities in the world are growing rapidly in size and they are shifting from the more developed regions to the less developed regions. In 1960 the three largest cities were in more developed countries; by 2000, only Tokyo remained in the top three.
In 1960, New York was the largest city in the world, with a population of about 14 million. By 2015, the largest city worldwide is projected to be Tokyo, with nearly double this population size: 27 million.
Source: United Nations, World Urbanization Prospects: The 2001 Revision (medium scenario), 2002.

10. Population in Countries With Low Fertility
Decline or Growth,
Percent
Country (average number of children per woman)
China (1.8)
South Korea (1.4)
Trinidad & Tobago (1.6)
Italy (1.2)
All countries shown here have below “replacement level” childbearing —the level required for population to ultimately stop growing or declining. Yet, half will continue to grow and half are projected to decline by 2025.
Although women in both Russia and Bulgaria have on average 1.1 children each (among the lowest rates in the world), Russia, with a slightly younger population, will lose a smaller proportion of its population (14 percent, compared with 17 percent for Bulgaria) between 2002 and Still, Russia, having a much bigger population, is projected to lose nearly 20 million people, whereas Bulgaria will probably shrink by just 1.5 million.
Russia (1.1)
Bulgaria (1.1)
Source: United Nations, World Population Prospects: The 2002 Revision (medium scenario), 2003.

11. Ratio of Workers to Dependents, by Region
Note: People 15 to 64 are considered to be workers; people 14 and younger and those over 65 are considered to be dependents.
Source: United Nations, World Population Prospects: The 2002 Revision (medium scenario), 2003.

12. Reaching Replacement Fertility
Average number of children per woman
Source: United Nations, World Population Prospects: The 2002 Revision (medium scenario), 2003.

13. 10 Places With the Lowest Birth Rates Worldwide
Average number of children per woman,
Source: United Nations, World Population Prospects: The 2002 Revision (medium scenario), 2003.

14. Trends in Aging, by World Region
Population Ages 65 and Older
Percent
By 2025, over 20 percent of the population in more developed regions will be ages 65 and older.
By 2025, one-tenth of the world’s population will be over age 65.
Asia will see the proportion of its elderly population almost double, from about 6 percent in 2000 to 10 percent in In absolute terms, this represents a stark increase in just 25 years: from about 216 million to nearly 475 million older people.
Source: United Nations, World Population Prospects: The 2002 Revision (medium scenario), 2003.

15. Trends in Life Expectancy, by Region
Life Expectancy at Birth, in Years
Currently, infants born around the world can expect to live an average of 65 years — up nine years since the late 1960s.
Asia has experienced the largest increase in life expectancy since the late 1960s: from 54 years to 67 years.
Life expectancy varies widely by region. In more developed countries, life expectancy averages 76 years, compared with only 49 years in Africa.
Source: United Nations, World Population Prospects: The 2002 Revision (medium scenario), 2003.

16. Trends in Population Growth Worldwide
Population Increase and Growth Rate, Five-Year Periods
Percent increase per year
Millions
This figure illustrates the lag between changes in the rate of growth and the net increase in population per year.
Over the period , the population growth rate declined (a reflection of declining fertility), yet millions of people were added to the world’s population (which peaked around 1985, when 87 million people were added each year).
From 2000 on, the growth rate will continue to decline. Between 2015 and 2020, we will still be adding 69 million people each year. Why? Because the generation of women now having their children is very large as the result of high fertility in their mothers’ and grandmothers’ generations.
Source: United Nations, World Population Prospects: The 2002 Revision (medium scenario), 2003.

17. Trends in Urbanization, by Region
Urban Population
Percent
The world is becoming increasingly urban. By 2010, half of the world’s population is expected to live in urban areas. Typically, the population living in towns of 2,000 or more, or in national and provincial capitals, is classified as urban.
Currently, world regions differ greatly in their levels of urbanization. In more developed regions and in Latin America and the Caribbean, over 70 percent of the population is urban, whereas in Africa and Asia, under 40 percent of the population is urban. By 2030, however, the urban proportion of these two regions will exceed 50 percent.
By 2030, roughly 60 percent of the world’s population will be living in urban areas.
Source: United Nations, World Urbanization Prospects: The 2001 Revision (medium scenario), 2002.

18. Urbanization in Central America
Population Living in Urban Areas
Percent
Urbanization in Latin America is a tale of two regions. Central American countries are urbanizing rapidly, at a pace similar to that of their South American neighbors 20 years ago.
Source: United Nations, World Urbanization Prospects: The 2001 Revision (medium scenario), 2002.

19. Women and Aging
World Population, by Sex, at Specified Age Groups, 2025
Percent
The figure above depicts what demographers refer to as the feminization of aging. Although women make up half of world population, by the end of the next quarter century, they will account for more than half (54 percent) of people ages 60 and older, and 63 percent of very old people (80 and older).
Source: United Nations, World Population Prospects:The 2002 Revision (medium scenario), 2003.

20. Women of Childbearing Age
Number of Women 15 to 49
Billions
The number of women of childbearing ages 15 to 49 more than doubled between 1950 and 1990: from 620 million to over 1.3 billion.
Their numbers are expected to reach over 2 billion by the middle of this century, according to the UN’s medium projections.
The growing population of women in their childbearing years and their male partners will contribute to future world population growth, even if levels of childbearing continue to decline.
Source: United Nations, World Population Prospects: The 2002 Revision (medium scenario), 2003.

21. Women of Childbearing Age and Fertility
Worldwide
The number of women in their childbearing years has increased since the 1950s and is projected to continue to increase through 2050.
The number of children per woman has declined since the 1950s and is projected to continue to decline.
Even though women have on average fewer children than their mothers, the absolute number of babies being born continues to increase because of the increases in the total number of women of childbearing age.
Source: United Nations, World Population Prospects: The 2002 Revision (medium scenario), 2003.

22. World Population Clock
2003
Natural Increase per
World
More Developed Countries
Less Developed Countries
Less Developed Countries (less China)
Year
80,903,481
916,337
79,987,144
71,675,164
Day
221,653
2,511
219,143
196,370
Minute
154 2
152
136
Poodwaddle World Clock
Source: Population Reference Bureau, 2003 World Population Data Sheet.

23. World Population Growth, in Billions
Number of years to add each billion (year)
All of Human History
(1800)
123 (1930)
33 (1960)
14 (1974)
13 (1987)
12 (1999)
14 (2013)
15 (2028)
26 (2054)
Sources: First and second billion: Population Reference Bureau. Third through ninth billion: United Nations, World Population Prospects: The 1998 Revision (medium scenario).

24. World Population Growth Through History
Billions 12 11
2100 10 9
Modern
Age 8
Old
Stone
Bronze
Iron
Middle 7
Age
New Stone Age
Age
Age
Ages 6
2000
Future 5 4
1975 3
1950 2
1900 1
Black Death —
The Plague
1800
1+ million
7000
6000
5000
4000
3000
2000
1000
A.D.
A.D.
A.D.
A.D.
A.D.
A.D.
years
B.C.
B.C.
B.C.
B.C.
B.C.
B.C.
B.C. 1
1000
2000
3000
4000
5000
Source: Population Reference Bureau; and United Nations, World Population Projections to 2100 (1998).