Five million children were born in Europe in 2018, down by around 118 000 from the previous year. In the next 30 years, the United Nations projects the global population will reach nearly 10 billion people, while Europe will loose as much as 26 million by 2050.
The European Union statistics agency Eurostat confirmed that the population within Europe had increased from 512,4 million to 513,5 million in 2018, the second year in a row the population of the continent has increased despite lower birthrates than death rates, Il Giornale reported.
France has a much higher birthrate than the EU average, but according to a report from French daily Le Figaro, birthrates of native French were far lower than that of migrants.
Ireland was at the top of the list with 12,5 births per thousand inhabitants, while Italy, with 7,3 births per thousand inhabitants, ranked among the lowest in Europe.
The world’s aging European population will have serious socio-economic consequences – lower economic growth, high public debt burdens, intergenerational tensions, higher health care and pension costs.
Europe that is leading the demographic change with the oldest populations in the world where one in four of all Europeans are aged 60 and over according to UN data.
Between 2015 and 2017 countries in eastern Europe saw the biggest decreases in population, with Bulgaria, Latvia, Ukraine, Poland and Hungary at the top of the list. The biggest percentage decreases in population by 2100 are however in Albania (-62 percent), Serbia (-52 percent), and Moldova and Bosnia-Herzegovina (both -50 percent).
And four of the 10 most populous countries in the world will no longer be among the top 10 by 2100. Africa will overtake Brazil, Bangladesh, Russia and Mexico according to recently released population projections from the United Nations.
The four are projected to be overtaken by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Tanzania and Egypt – none of which are currently in the top 10.
Each of the four African countries is expected to more than double in population, with increases of 304 percent in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, 156 percent in Ethiopia, 378 percent in Tanzania and 120 percent in Egypt.
The two non-African nations on this list of most popululated countries are Pakistan and the United States, which are projected to see population gains of 182 million and 103 million people, respectively.
The largest decrease by far projected in China, a Pew Research survey showed. By 2100, China is expected to have 374 million fewer people than it does today, more than the entire current population of the United States.
India is expected to overtake China as the world’s most populous country by 2027.