Different Assumptions, Different Projections
Notes:
Population Projections on the Basis of Different Fertility Rates, 1950-2050
The United Nations populations projections for 2050 range from a low of 7.7 billion to a high of 11.2 billion. For more information see http://www.wri.org/trends/popgrow.html.
Source: United Nations (U.N.) Population Division, World Population Prospects 1950-2050 (The 1996 Revision), on diskette (U.N. New York, 1996).
Notes: Under the high fertility rate projection, which assumes that high fertility countries will stabilize at 2.6, and low fertility countries will rise to stabilize at 2.1, world population would reach 11.2 billion in 2050. Under the medium fertility rate projection, which assumes that the fertility rate ultimately will stabilize at a replacement level of about 2.1, the global population would reach about 9.4 billion in 2050. The low fertility rate projection assumes that countries currently with higher-than-replacement fertility rates will stabilize at 1.6, and that countries currently with lower-than-replacement rates will either stabilize at 1.5 or remain constant. Under these assumptions, world population would stabilize at 7.7 billion in 2050.