Research

Four in 10 of the world's people will be African by the end of this century

• Africa has experienced a marked increase in its population in last few decades. Its current population is five times its size in 1950. And the continent's rapid population expansion is set to continue, with its inhabitants doubling from 1.2 billion to 2.4 billion between 2015 and 2050, and eventually reaching 4.2
billion by 2100.

• The future of humanity is increasingly African. More than half the projected 2.2 billion rise in the world population in 2015-2050 is expected to take place in Africa, even though the continent's population growth rate will slow. On current trends, within 35 years, 1 in every 4 people will be African, rising to 4 in 10 people by the end of the century. Back in 1950, only 9 among 100 of the world's number of
inhabitants were African.

• With its inhabitants set to soar, Africa will become increasingly crowded, with its population density projected to increase from 8 persons per square kilometre in 1950 to 39 in 2015 and to about 80 by mid-century.

A billion children will live in Africa by mid-century

• In 2050, around 41 per cent of the world's births, 40 per cent of all under-fives, 37 per cent of all children under 18 and 35 per cent of all adolescents will be African — higher than previously projected. In 1950, only
about 10 per cent of the world's births, under-fives, under-18s and adolescents were African.

• The population of Africa's under-fives will swell by 51 per cent from 179 million in 2015 to 271 million in 2050 and its overall child population (under-18s) will increase by two thirds from 547 million in 2015 to almost 1 billion by mid-century.

• It is projected that 1.1 billion children under 18 will be living in Africa by 2100, accounting for almost half (47 per cent) of the world population of children at that time.