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Daily Policy Digest

International Issues

August 2, 2001

Study Predicts World Population Will Peak In 2070

The global population will peak at nine billion over the next 70 years and then begin to decline, according to a new study from the International Institute for Applied Systems in Laxenburg, Austria. But some other demographers dispute that projection.

  • The world's population currently stands at 6.1 billion, and the study projects that most of the new growth will occur in developing countries.
  • The institute puts the chance that the world's population will stop growing by the next century at 85 percent.
  • The study sees the population dipping from a 9 billion peak to 8.4 billion by 2100.
  • It projects that the number of people age 60 or older will more than quadruple by 2100.

The study appears in today's issue of the journal Nature.

Source: Margie Mason (Associated Press), "World Population Will Max Out, Study Finds," August 2, 2001.

For more on International Issues:

http://www.ncpa.org/sub/dpd/index.php?Article_Category=26