Population and inclusiveness

The world population has grown by 0.9 per cent in 2023, while growth is estimated to halve by 2050. Since the late 1980s, population growth has gradually slowed down. This slowdown was especially accentuated during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. As a result, the world population is expected to pass the 9 billion mark by 2037.

Over the last 25 years, the world population has increased by 2.1 billion people. Almost all this growth has occurred in developing economies, mainly in Asia and Oceania (1.1 billion) and Africa (0.7 billion). In 2023, five in six people in the world lived in a developing economy. 68 per cent of the population in the developing world lives in Asia and Oceania, 10 per cent in America and 22 per cent in Africa. 

In the coming 25 years, Africa’s share of the global population should increase to 29 per cent, mostly at the expense of Asia and Oceania, while the share of America should remain stable at 9 per cent. In 2050, six in seven people in the world will live in developing countries.

All over the world, a growing proportion of the population lives in cities. In 2013, 52.9 per cent lived in urban areas. The share of urban population was projected to have increased to 57.3 per cent in 2023. It is generally higher in the developed (79.9 per cent) than in the developing world (52.8 per cent). In least developed countries, the people living in urban areas are in the minority (36.4 per cent). 

Over the last ten years, urbanization has been most pronounced in developing economies, especially developing Asia and Oceania, which saw the urban rate increase from 44.6 in 2013 to 51.1 per cent in 2023. Developing Africa has seen a 4.7 percentage point increase in the same period. By contrast, the share of people living in urban areas was already high in developing economies of the Americas and further urbanization has been relatively modest.