DID YOU KNOW?

The total life expectancy for individuals born in the United States is 77.5 years. On average, a person can expect to have private insurance coverage for 41.1 years or 53 percent of their life, Medicaid for 8.1 years, Medicare for 16.3 years, and no insurance for 12 years. More...

by Carl Haub

(Population Today, July 2001) On World Population Day (July 11, 2001), it is clear that the 21st century belongs to the less developed countries, at least in terms of anticipated population growth. In 1950, the population of Asia, Africa, and Latin America and the Caribbean was about twice that of Europe and North America. By 2050, the difference in the populations of less developed countries and more developed countries could be sixfold.

The population gap will hold true despite the astonishing prevalence of HIV/AIDS in many African countries. Prevalence is highest in Botswana, at 36 percent of adults ages 15 to 49, but ranges from 10 percent to over 20 percent in Burundi, Côte d'Ivoire, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Despite a projected decline in South Africa's population due to HIV/AIDS, Africa is still expected to add 1 billion to its population from 2001 to 2050.

In Europe, the annual number of births, now about 7.3 million, is counteracted by more than 8 million deaths. The total fertility rate — the average number of children a woman would have given prevailing birth rates — has been well below 2 children per woman for about 20 years in Western Europe. In Eastern Europe it is just 1.2, the world's lowest.

Fertility in Western European countries does seem to have "bottomed out," and small increases in recent years have been observed in a few countries. Some of the recently observed low fertility in Europe is due to a shift in the age pattern of childbearing. When these women do decide to have children, an increase in TFRs can be expected — the UN's recently released medium-variant projections for Europe assume a modest increase in most countries — but it is difficult to anticipate how much of a rise there might be.

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World Population Clock, 2001

	World	More Developed Countries	Less Developed Countries	Less Developed Countries (less China)
Population:	6,137,003,000	1,193,195,000	4,943,808,000	3,670,530,000
Births per:
Year	136,482,384	13,267,914	123,214,470	103,822,446
Month	11,373,532	1,105,660	10,267,873	8,651,871
Week	2,624,661	255,152	2,369,509	1,996,586
Day	373,924	36,350	337,574	284,445
Hour	15,580	1,515	14,066	11,852
Minute	260	25	234	198
Second	4.3	0.4	3.9	3.3
Deaths per:
Year	53,887,792	12,200,981	41,686,811	33,461,435
Month	4,490,649	1,016,748	3,473,901	2,788,453
Week	1,036,304	234,634	801,669	643,489
Day	147,638	33,427	114,210	91,675
Hour	6,152	1,393	4,759	3,820
Minute	103	23	79	64
Second	1.7	0.4	1.3	1.1
Natural Increase per:
Year	82,594,592	1,066,933	81,527,659	70,361,011
Month	6,882,883	88,911	6,793,972	5,863,418
Week	1,588,358	20,518	1,567,840	1,353,096
Day	226,287	2,923	223,363	192,770
Hour	9,429	122	9,307	8,032
Minute	157	2	155	134
Second	2.6	0.0	2.6	2.2
Infant Deaths per:
Year	7,637,540	99,677	7,537,864	6,928,954
Month	636,462	8,306	628,155	577,413
Week	146,876	1,917	144,959	133,249
Day	20,925	273	20,652	18,983
Hour	872	11	860	791
Minute	15	0.2	14	13
Second	0.2	0.0	0.2	0.2

Source: Population Reference Bureau, 2001 World Population Data Sheet.

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Carl Haub holds the Conrad Taeuber Chair of Population Information at the Population Reference Bureau.