“The future of humanity is increasingly African”

That’s the prediction in a new UNICEF report, which estimates that by century’s end, 40% of the world will be African – up from 15% now. The continent’s population, currently 1.2 billion is predicted to be more than 4 billion by 2100. Nearly 1 billion will live in Nigeria alone.
A 4+ billion person Africa (the UN’s medium variant) equals sending everyone now living in Europe, North America, Latin America, South America, Oceania and India to join today’s African population!

See: http://tpr.org/post/unicef-report-africas-population-could-hit-4-billion-2100

In a just released report, UNICEF projects the growth of Africa’s population within the next century. And the numbers are staggering.

An estimated 1.8 billion births will occur in the next 35 years. By 2050, Africa will have almost 1 billion children under 18, nearly 40 % of youngsters worldwide.

Lead author David Anthony admits that UNICEF researchers were surprised by the findings. “[We] knew the world’s population was swinging toward Africa, but new estimates released by the U.N. population division show an even stronger swing than anticipated.”

Fertility rates have fallen slightly in Africa but remain high compared with the rest of the world. Furthermore, the number of women of reproductive age has grown enormously and is expected to double in the next 35 years.

“So even though fertility rates are declining, the number of women having babies will increase so much that it will more than offset the fall, resulting in increasing numbers [of births] overall”.

While half of all child deaths in the world occur in Africa – 1 in every 11 dying before age 5 – infant mortality has slowed since the ’90s. However, the challenges of overpopulation facing Africans and their governments are enormous. Without significant and effective family planning Africa appears destined to experience unparalleled growth in slum populations, in mass poverty and in destabilizing inequality.