8 Billionth Person on Earth Born in Ghana

At 12:05 GMT on Tuesday, a girl born at the Greater Accra Regional Hospital Ridge) in Ghana became the symbolic eight billionth person in the world. The bouncing baby girl was delivered of 27-year-old Philomena Digbey at Ridge.

Philomena and husband Eric Obeng Ateino received baby product gifts.

By her birth, the world’s population reached 8 billion on Tuesday November 15, growing by 1 billion in the last dozen years and reflecting the rapid population spike of the past few decades, with India projected to become the world’s most populous country by next year, surpassing China.

The world’s population milestone of 8 billion people has long-term significance for both rich and poor countries. While it took hundreds of thousands of years for the world’s population to reach 1 billion, the world grew from 7 billion to 8 billion just since 2010, a reflection of advancements in health.

As the world is expected to grow even more to over 10 billion during the next 60 years as the U.N.’s population division of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) reported, population growth is slowing relative to the past, and the U.N. warns that the challenges of feeding, housing and keeping that level of people from polluting the climate will be significant.

On the bright side, the increase in global life expectancy grew to almost 73 years, and is expected to reach 77 years in 2050.

Another key point in the U.N.’s population report, updated in its November brief, is the gender divide: Today there are just slightly more men than women, but that even out by 2050.

The ‘8 billion’ person number is also a wake-up call for wealthier northern states since the report says that global migration “will be the sole driver of population growth in high-income countries.”

The report was originally published on World Population Day five months ago. It projected Tuesday as the day for the 8 billion person milestone, now dubbed the “Day of Eight Billion”. The “Day” was therefore launched by DESA, the U.N.’s health agency (WHO), and the U.N.’s population fund (UNFPA) at U.N. Headquarters in New York.

In Ghana, the symbolic ceremony was organized by the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS), the Ghana Health Service (GHS), the National Population Council (NPC), the Regional Institute for Population Studies (RIPS), University of Ghana, and the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC), with support from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).

The global population is growing at its slowest rate since 1950 with under 1% growth in 2020. The report estimates that there will be 8.5 billion people in 2030 and 9.7 billion in 2050 and then peak at 10.4 billion people during the 2080s and remain at that level until 2100.

This unprecedented growth is due to the gradual increase in human lifespan owing to improvements in public health, nutrition, personal hygiene and medicine. It is also the result of high and persistent levels of fertility in some countries.

While it took the global population 12 years to grow from 7 to 8 billion, it will take approximately 15 years—until 2037— for it to reach 9 billion, a sign that the overall growth rate of the global population is slowing.

The milestone is an occasion to celebrate diversity and advancements while considering humanity’s shared responsibility for the planet.”

Countries with the highest fertility levels tend to be those with the lowest income per capita. Global population growth has therefore over time become increasingly concentrated among the world’s poorest countries, most of which are in sub-Saharan Africa. In these countries, sustained rapid population growth can thwart the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which remain the world’s best pathway toward a happy and healthy future.

Even though population growth magnifies the environmental impact of economic development, rising per capita incomes are the main driver of unsustainable patterns of production and consumption. The countries with the highest per capita consumption of material resources and emissions of greenhouse gas emissions tend to be those where income per capita is higher, not those where the population is growing rapidly.

Meeting the objectives of the Paris Agreement to limit global temperature rise, while achieving the SDGs, critically depends on curbing unsustainable patterns of production and consumption. Yet, slower population growth over many decades could help to mitigate the further accumulation of environmental damage in the second half of the current century.

Half of the increase in population up to 2050 will take place in the following eight countries, the U.N. says: Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines and Tanzania.

Population in the world is, as of 2022, growing at a rate of around 0.84% per year (down from 1.05% in 2020, 1.08% in 2019, 1.10% in 2018, and 1.12% in 2017). The current population increase is estimated at 67 million people per year