August 2017: The Population Reference Bureau (PRB) has released its annual World Population Data Sheet. This information resource provides data on 17 population, health and environment indicators for over 200 countries. Based on the data, PRB projects that global population will reach 9.8 billion in 2050, which represents a 31% increase from the estimated 7.5 billion population in 2017.

The PRB data projects that, by 2050, the four most populous countries in the world will be India, China, Nigeria and the US.

The data sheet projects that, while the four most populous countries in 2017 are China, India, US and Indonesia, respectively, in 2050 they will be India, China, Nigeria and the US. The fertility rate (average lifetime births per woman) in Nigeria is 7.3, the highest rate in 2017. South Korea, Taiwan, Romania, Singapore, and Bosnia-Herzegovina have the lowest fertility rate (1.2) for 2017. The worldwide total fertility rate in 2017 is 2.5.

The 2017 version of the Data Sheet includes nine indicators regarding people aged 15 to 24. A “NEET” indicator (Not in Education, Employment, or Training) measures the percentage of youth who are not in the education system, not working and not in work training, with graphs showing the results by gender for eight countries in each of four income categories (high, upper-middle, lower-middle, and low). Data for US youth who were not in school and not working in 2007, 2010 and 2015 are disaggregated based on gender and ethnic background, with the lowest rates for each group, except for white males, occurring in 2015.

Additional youth-related indicators include: percent of demand for family planning satisfied by modern methods for married women ages 15-24; percent of youth living with HIV in Sub-Saharan Africa, by gender; percent of secondary students, ages 13-15, who use alcohol or tobacco products, or are overweight or obese, by gender; and percent of youth using a computer or the internet. [2017 World Population Data Sheet][WorldPopData website][PRB Summary of 2017 World Population Data Sheet]