A United Nations forecast showed that the world's population will increase from 7.2 billion today to 8.1 billion in 2025, with most growth in developing countries and more than half in Africa. By 2050, it will reach 9.6 billion.

 

India's population is expected to surpass China's around 2028 when both countries will have populations of around 1.45 billion, according to the report on "World Population Prospects."

 

While India's population is forecast to grow to around 1.6 billion and then slowly decline to 1.5 billion in 2100, China's is expected to start decreasing after 2030, possibly falling to 1.1 billion in 2100, it said.

 

The report found global fertility rates are falling rapidly, though not nearly fast enough to avoid a significant population jump over the next decades.

 

In fact, the UN revised its population projection upward since its last report two years ago, mostly due to higher fertility projections in the countries with the most children per women. The previous projection had the global population reaching 9.3 billion people in 2050.

 

The populations of several countries are expected to decline by more than 15 percent by 2050, including Belarus, Bulgaria, Cuba, Romania, Russia Serbia, and Ukraine.