India to overtake China as most populous country in 8 years, says UN report: 'World population to grow to 9.7 billion by 2050'

United Nations: India will overtake China to become the world’s most populous country in just eight years, according to a United Nations report. Meanwhile, the Chinese population will decrease by 31.4 million, or around 2.2 percent, between 2019 and 2050. [caption id=“attachment_3802059” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Reuters[/caption] The report titled ‘The World Population Prospects 2019: Highlights’ estimated that the world’s population is expected to increase by two million by 2050, from 7.7 billion today to 9.7 billion. Moreover, India along with eight other countries will constitute half of the population. The nine countries expected to show the biggest increase are India, Nigeria and Pakistan, followed by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Indonesia, Egypt and the United States of America. In all, the population of sub-Saharan Africa is expected to practically double by 2050, the report said. The report has mentioned that the growth in population will come despite the slowing of the global fertility rate. In 1990, the average number of births per woman was 3.2. By 2019 this had fallen to 2.5 births per woman and by 2050, this is projected to decline further to 2.2 births. A fertility level of 2.1 births per woman is necessary to avoid national population decline over the long run (in the absence of immigration). Further, life expectancy at birth for the world, which increased from 64.2 years in 1990 to 72.6 years in 2019, is expected to increase further to 77.1 years in 2050.