Report: Quarter of world population to be Africans by 2050

NAIROBI, KENYA: Africans will count for a quarter of the world population in 35 years from now, a United Nations agency report has revealed.

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) demographics report states that Africa will be home to two out of five children in the world by 2050 which will translate to 25 out of 100 people living in the world being Africans.

The global population projections indicate that by mid-century, Africa will be home to around 41 per cent of all the world's births, 40 per cent of all global under-fives, 37 per cent of all children under-18 and 35 per cent of all adolescents.

The UNICEF report dubbed Generation 2030/Africa Report states that the future of humanity is increasingly African as today, 16 among 100 of the world's inhabitants are African and based on current trends, within 35 years, 25 in 100 people will be African with this likely to continue to rise to almost 40 in 100 people by the end of the century.

Worldwide, Africa is the only region where the population is projected to keep increasing throughout the 21st century. Currently there are 1.2 billion people in Africa, more than five times the population in 1950. By 2050, Africa's population will double, to 2.4 billion and eventually reaching 4.2 billion by the end of the century.

“This an unprecedented projected increase in Africa's child population size provides policymakers with a once-in-a-generation opportunity to craft a child-focused investment strategy that enables the continent, and the world, to reap the benefits of Africa's demographic transition,” UNICEF said in the report released on Tuesday.

According to the Generation 2030/Africa Report, high fertility rates and rising numbers of women of reproductive age mean that over the next 35 years, almost two billion babies will be born in Africa; the continent's population will double in size; and its under-18 population will increase by two-thirds to reach almost a billion children.

Among the report's most important findings is a massive shift in the world's child population towards Africa. Projections indicate that by 2050, around 40 per cent of all births, and about 40 per cent of all children, will be in Africa, up from about 10 per cent in 1950.