World population

World population 2017

The population of the world is projected to increased by 90 430 792 people in 2017 and reach 7 576 951 390 in the end of the year. The natural increase is expected to be positive, as the number of births will exceed the number of deaths by 90 160 341.

Population change rates in 2017

According to our estimations, daily change rates of world population in 2017 will be the following:

• 407 616 live births average per day (16 983.98 in an hour)
• 160 601 deaths average per day (6 691.70 in an hour)

The population of World will be increased by 247 756 persons daily in 2017.

Demographics of the World 2016

As of 1 January 2017, the population of the world was estimated to be 7 486 520 598. This is an increase of 1.20 % (88 744 236 people) compared to population of 7 397 776 362 the year before. In 2016 the natural increase was positive, as the number of births exceeded the number of deaths by 88 545 673.

Below are the key figures for the world population in 2016:

• 146 469 220 live births
• 57 923 546 deaths
• 3 776 259 639 males as of 31 December 2016
• 3 710 260 959 females as of 31 December 2016
• 4 042 721 123 people live in urban areas (54 % of total world population)
• 3 443 799 475 people live in rural areas (46 % of total world population)

World population density

The world population density is 55.0 people per square kilometer as of July 2017. This number is calculated using 7 486 520 598 people as the world population and 136 120 354 km² as Earth's total area. This is the sum of land and water areas within international boundaries and coastlines of all the countries in the world.

Since the Earth's total area is about 510 million square kilometers, the world population density can be calculated in several ways:

• 14.7 people per square kilometer - the Earth's total area (including land and water) is 510 072 000 km².
• 49.8 people per square kilometer - the Earth's land area. This includes all continental and island land area as well as Antarctica. The area in that case is 150 461 685 km².
• 55.0 people per square kilometer - sum of land and water areas within international boundaries and coastlines of all the countries in the world. The area in that case is 136 120 354 km².

See also:

List of countries by surface area and density by United Nations Statistics Division
Map and list of the world by density of population at worldstat.info

Global age structure

As of the beginning of 2017 according to our estimates the world had the following population age distribution:

25.9

64.2

7.6

	- percentage of population under 15
	- percentage of population between 15 and 64 years old
	- percentage of population 65+

In absolute figures (estimate):

• 1 942 216 874 young people under 15 years old ( 1 004 638 355 males / 937 581 437 females)
• 4 802 743 202 persons between 15 and 64 years old ( 2 427 864 967 males / 2 374 897 006 females)
• 565 723 262 persons above 64 years old ( 250 596 060 males / 315 115 888 females)

We prepared a simplified model of the population distribution pyramid which is broken down into 3 main age groups. The groups are the same as we used above: population under 15, between 15 and 64 and population which is over 65 year old.

65+

15-64

0-14

male

female

As we can see the World population pyramid has an expanding type. This type of pyramid is common for developing countries with declining fertility rate but still high birth and death rates.

World life expectancy

Life expectancy at birth is one of the most important demographic indicator. It shows the number of years a newborn infant would live assuming that birth and death rates will remain at the same level during the whole lifetime.

According to Population Division of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations, life expectancy at birth for the world as a whole increased from 65 years in 1990-1995 to 70 years in 2010-2015. Although wide disparities persist such that the average length of life in Africa in 2010-2015, for example, is 12 years shorter than the global average and 21 years shorter than in Northern America - see figure below.

Global literacy

According to our estimates 4 632 812 644 persons or 86.3% of adult population (aged 15 years and above) in the world are able to read and write. Accordingly about 735 661 278 adults are illiterate.

Literacy rate for adult male population is 89.96% (2 409 463 186 persons). 268 997 841 are illiterate.
Literacy rate for adult female population is 82.65% (2 223 349 457 persons). 466 663 437 are illiterate.

Youth literacy rates are 92.81% and 90.13% for males and females accordingly. The overall youth literacy rate is 91.51%. Youth literacy rate definition covers the population between the ages of 15 to 24 years.

Source: The estimation data for section "World population literacy" is based on the latest data published by UNESCO Institute for Statistics (retrieved March 13, 2016) .