Expectancies For 2050

Europe only continent with shrinking population

EINDHOVEN - Europe will be the only continent which population will shrink in the first part of the 21th century. According to the American-based Population Reference Bureau (PRB), the number of Europeans will decrease with eight percent from 728 million to 668 million in the coming 45 years. The report shows the population tendencies until the year 2050. On the whole the world population will grow with 45 percent, from 6.396 billion now to 9.276 billion in 2050. India will surpass China as being the country with the largest population: 1.628 billion people in India to 1.437 billion in China. The population shrinkage in Europe will mostly be at the expense of the Eastern European countries, which will all deal with decreasing populations.

The shrinkage will vary from ten percent in the Czech Republic to an astonishing thirty-eight percent in Bulgaria. For the region as a whole the expected decline will be nineteen percent.

The populations of Southern and Western Europe will also decline, on an average of seven and one percent respectively. Northern Europe will be the only European region which will experience a population growth according to the PRB - approximately eight percent. The population growth in the Netherlands will be eight percent, from 16.3 million to 17.6 million. Of all Western and Central European countries, only Germany and Switzerland will deal with a decline of the population, nine and three percent respectively.

Africa will be the continent with the largest estimated population growth: from 885 million to 1.941 billion, a growth of 114 percent. The country with the largest population growth the coming fifty years will be Niger: from twelve million now to fifty-three million in 2050 (327 percent).

Western Europeans have the highest life expectancy. At the moment, the average Western European has a life expectancy of 79 years. In the African country of Sierra Leone the life expectancy is only 35 years.