Bangladesh along with three other countries will no longer be among the top 10 most populous countries in the world by 2100, according to Washington’s Pew Research Centre analysis based on data provided by the United Nations.
The analysis released on the eve of the World Population Day predicts that Bangladesh, Brazil, Russia and Mexico will be pushed out of the top ten most populous list by rapidly growing nations in Africa by the end of this century.
The countries expected to overtake these four are the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Tanzania and Egypt.
This changing of the guard is expected to occur because of sluggish population growth over the next eight decades in Mexico (+10% by 2100) and population losses in Brazil (-15%), Bangladesh (-8%) and Russia (-14%).
Each of the four African countries, by contrast, is expected to more than double in population, with increases of 304% in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, 156% in Ethiopia, 378% in Tanzania and 120% in Egypt.
“Eight of the 10 countries that are expected to gain the most people by 2100 are in Africa,” says the Pew Research Centre analysis.
The two non-African nations on this list are Pakistan and the United States, which are projected to see population gains of 182 million and 103 million people, respectively.
Also, none of the 10 countries that are expected to see the biggest population losses by 2100 are in Africa. Instead, these countries tend to be in Asia and Europe, with the largest decrease by far projected in China.
By 2100, China is expected to have 374 million fewer people than it does today.
“China’s projected decline in people, in fact, is more than the entire current population of the United States,” it says, adding, “India is expected to overtake China as the world’s most populous country by 2027.”
Recent data released by the United Nations suggests that the world’s population is expected to virtually stop growing by the end of this century, due in large part to falling global fertility rates.
By 2100, the world’s population is projected to reach approximately 10.9 billion, with annual growth of less than 0.1% – a steep decline from the current rate. Between 1950 and today, the world’s population grew between 1% and 2% each year, with the number of people rising from 2.5 billion to more than 7.7 billion.