World population is set to hit 9.7billion with Nigeria set to overtake USA as being more populous

[watch video below]

The world's population will reach 9.7 billion by 2050 as India becomes the largest country, the UN has reported.

In 35 years' time, there will be an extra 2.4 billion people in the world owing to high fertility rates in a handful of countries.

The UN predicts that the figure will rise to 11.2 billion by 2100.

Between 2015 and 2050, half of the growth will be concentrated in India, Nigeria, Pakistan, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, United Republic of Tanzania, United States of America, Indonesia and Uganda.

India will surpass China as the country with the greatest population around 2022, and Nigeria is predicted to have more people than the United States by 2050.

John Wilmoth, director of the population division in the UN's department of economic and social affairs, said that high fertility in some of world's poorest countries could bring problems.

'The concentration of population growth in the poorest countries presents its own set of challenges, making it more difficult to eradicate poverty and inequality, to combat hunger and malnutrition, and to expand educational enrolment and health systems, all of which are crucial to the success of the new sustainable development agenda.'

Fertility, measured by the average number of children that would be born to a woman over her lifetime, is declining across the world but the population continues to rise as rates remain high.

The report also found that the number of people aged over 60 will more than double by 2050 and more than triple by 2100. In Europe, 34 per cent of the population is predicted to be above 60 in the next 35 years because of the declining fertility rate and increase in longevity.

Watch video below:
[Source]