World Population 2017: Migration, income groups and age

About one billion inhabitants were added to the world over the past 12 years, bringing the total population to 7.6 billion as of mid-2017, according to a new report published by the United Nations. 

The world population is currently growing by 1.10 percent every year, yielding an additional 83 million people annually.

About 60 percent of the world’s people live in Asia, 17 percent in Africa, 10 percent in Europe, 9 percent in Latin America and the Caribbean, and the remaining 6 percent in Northern America and Oceania. China (1.4 billion) and India (1.3 billion) remain the two most populous countries in the world, comprising 19 and 18 percent of the global total respectively.

The report said that international migration remains an important distribution pattern of global population.

The UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development recognises that international migration can be a positive force for economic and social development by balancing labour between areas of origin and destination, and increasing the global productivity of labour.

According to the report, populations in many regions of the world are still comparatively young. In Africa, children under age 15 account for 41 percent of the population in 2017, and young persons aged 15 to 24 account for an additional 19 percent.

Low-income countries tend to have a greater proportion of young people because of high fertility rates.