We will celebrate the start of 2019 with more than 7.67 billion people. That is 83 million more than the year before. This is part of the German World Population Foundation (DSW) on Friday in Hannover.
The African population in particular experienced strong growth. Today, about 1.3 billion people live there. But according to the current forecasts of the United Nations, that number will almost double by 2050 – by 2.5 billion people.
“One of the main reasons for population growth in Africa, south of the Sahara, is the high number of unwanted pregnancies,” said DSW chairwoman Renate Bähr. One in two women can not prevent such a pregnancy, even if they want to. “As a result, women have an average of one more child in the world than they wish.”
Reasons are poor information, no contraception, no good health care and the lack of equal rights for women.
