Nigeria has been projected to emerge the third most populous country in the world by the year 2100.

Population projections are attempts to show how the human population statistics might change in the future.

The report by the United Nation projected that the world population, 8 billion as of 2023, would peak around 2086 to about 10.4 billion, start a slow decline, assuming a continuing decrease in the global average fertility rate from 2.5 births per woman during the 2015–2020 period to 1.8 by the year 2100, (the medium-variant projection).

According to the UN, of the predicted growth in world population between 2020 and 2050, all of that change will come from less developed countries, and more than half will come from sub-Saharan Africa.

Half of the growth will come from just eight countries, five of which are in Africa. It is predicted that the population of sub-Saharan Africa will double by 2050.

The population of a country or area grows or declines through the interaction of three demographic drivers: fertility, mortality, and migration.

The list below shows the bulk of the world’s population growth is projected to take place in Africa.

Of the additional 1.9 billion people projected between 2020 and 2050, 1.2 billion will be added in Africa, 0.7 billion in Asia and zero in the rest of the world.

Africa’s share of global population is projected to grow from 17% in 2020 to 25% in 2050 and 38% by 2100, while the share of Asia will fall from 60% in 2020 to 55% in 2050 and 45% in 2100.

The strong growth of the African population will happen regardless of the rate of decrease of fertility, because of the exceptional proportion of young people already living today.

For example, the UN projects that the population of Nigeria will surpass that of the United States by about 2050.

Projected population in 2100:

1. India → 1,533 Million

2. China → 771M

3. Nigeria → 546M

4. Pakistan → 487M

5. Congo → 431M

6. US → 394M

7. Ethiopia → 323M

8. Indonesia → 297M

9. Tanzania → 244M

10. Egypt → 205M

11. Brazil → 185M

12. Philippines → 180M

13. Bangladesh → 177M

14.Niger → 166M

15.Sudan → 142M

16.Angola → 133M

17.Uganda → 132M

18. Mexico → 116M

19. Kenya → 113M

20. Russia → 112M

21. Iraq → 111M

22. Afghanistan → 110M

23. Mozambique → 106M

24. Vietnam → 91M

25. Côte d’Ivoire → 88M

26. Cameroon → 87M

27. Mali → 87M

28. Madagaskar → 83M

29. Turkey → 82M

30. Iran → 79M

31. South Africa → 74M

32. Yemen → 74M

33. Japan → 74M

34. UK → 70M

35. Germany → 68M

36. France → 60M

37. Canada → 53M

38. Saudi Arabia → 50M

39. Argentina → 47M

40. Australia → 38M

41. Italy → 36M

42. Spain → 30M

43. South Korea → 24M

44. Netherlands → 16M

45. UAE → 14M

46. Sweden → 13M

47. Switzerland → 10M

48. Austria → 8M

49. Norway → 7M

50. Denmark → 7M

51. Finland → 5M

52. Slovenia → 1.6M

53. Latvia → 0.95M

54. Estonia → 0.83M

55. Iceland → 0.37M

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