Global Scans · Population · Weekly Summary

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WHAT'S NEXT?: The global population is expected to reach 8.5 billion in 2030, up 1 billion from 2016. Western economies are declining in numbers and emerging economies witnessing burgeoning growth.

• [New] The world's ageing population is growing rapidly, and Australia is no exception where, within the next 20 years, one in four Australians will be aged 65 or over. Home
• [New] Two-thirds of the world's population will be African, Muslim, or Indian. Modern Diplomacy
• [New] Once a sparsely inhabited desert, the Middle East by mid-century will have a population one and a half times larger than that of the entire European Union. Modern Diplomacy
• [New] Africa's current population of roughly 1.5 billion is projected to reach 3.2 billion within about 45 years. Modern Diplomacy
• [New] Global food production must increase by 70% by 2050 to sustain the planet's rising population. Business Today
• [New] The global geriatric population is estimated to reach at around 2 billion by 2050. Precedence Research
• [New] 3.80 billion adults, representing more than half of the anticipated global adult population, will be living with overweight or obesity. PubMed
• [New] The elderly population aged 65 and above will grow from 10% in 2022 to reach 16% by 2050. P&S Intelligence
• [New] Dementia currently affects nearly one million people across the UK, a figure expected to exceed 1.6 million by 2040 as the population ages. Insurance Business
• [New] The older adult population is growing: about 5% of the world's population was age 65 or older in 1950, rising to about 10% in 2021, and projected to increase to about 17% in 2050. Cleveland Clinic Journal of Medicine
• [New] For years, colleges and universities have been bracing for the enrolment cliff - a sharp drop in the college-aged population due to declining birth rates, expected to hit college campuses in the next five to 10 years. CCCU
• By 2030, more than 8% of the world's population (approximately 670 million people) will confront the issue of hunger. PubMed Central (PMC)
• The biometrics-submitting population will grow by 1.12 million due to the removal of age restrictions and the expansion of routine collection across a broader span of forms. Federal Register
• About 1.12 million more biometrics submissions will be collected annually, and the resulting biometrics-submitting population will increase from a current baseline of 2.07 million to 3.19 million. Federal Register
• Population growth is expected to modestly ease further in Australia, where it has already reduced monthly labour replacement needs. Australia II
• In terms of the developer population, firms like IDC expect it to jump from 30 million paid developers in 2024 to 50 million by 2029 - that's a 10% annual growth rate. Morgan Stanley

Last updated: 13 November 2025