World population to hit 8 billion in 2024

Up by 75 million in 2023

MANILA, Philippines — The world population grew by 75 million people over the past year and on New Year’s Day it will stand at more than eight billion people, according to figures released by the US Census Bureau on Thursday.

The worldwide growth rate in the past year was just under one percent. At the start of 2024, 4.3 births and two deaths are expected worldwide every second, according to the Census Bureau figures.

The growth rate for the United States in the past year was 0.53 percent, about half the worldwide figure. The US added 1.7 million people and will have a population on New Year’s Day of 335.8 million people.

If the current pace continues through the end of the decade, the 2020s could be the slowest-growing decade in US history, yielding a growth rate of less than four percent over the 10-year period from 2020 to 2030, said William Frey, a demographer at The Brookings Institution.

The slowest-growing decade currently was in the aftermath of the Great Depression in the 1930s, when the growth rate was 7.3 percent.

“Of course growth may tick up a bit as we leave the pandemic years. But it would still be difficult to get to 7.3 percent,” Frey said.

At the start of 2024, the United States is expected to experience one birth every nine seconds and one death every 9.5 seconds. However, immigration will keep the population from dropping.

Net international migration is expected to add one person to the US population every 28.3 seconds. This combination of births, deaths and net international migration will increase the US population by one person every 24.2 seconds.

115 million Philippines population

The Philippines’ population may reach 115 million by the end of the year, the Commission on Population and Development (CPD) said in November.

“The Philippines, based on the 2020 census, has recorded 109 million Filipinos and it is estimated that it will reach around 115 million by the end of 2023,” CPD deputy executive director Lolito Tacardon said in an interview with “Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon” program over government-run PTV4.

The number is based on the country’s population growth rate of 1.6 percent annually, according to Tacardon.

The Philippines is now 13th among the most populous countries in the world.

“Meanwhile, in the Asia-Pacific region, the Philippines is at seventh place,” Tacardon said.

He noted that the 1.6-percent population growth rate annually meant that the country’s population “has already stabilized.”

“Total fertility rate (showed that a woman of reproductive health normally gives birth to two children only. This is based on the 2022 Health and Demographic Survey. This means that the total fertility level slows down the country’s population growth,” Tacardon explained.

At the same time, the CPD official stressed that the fertility rate has an impact on the country’s age structure.

“The dominant now is the working-age group population of 15 to 64 years old. The dependents, who are aged to zero to 14, are getting fewer in number. Its implication is that if the country becomes successful in building human resources such as the working-age population, there is a chance to accelerate economic development,” he said.

“If all or many are working, all will contribute to development rather than receiving help from the government. There is positive contribution to economic development,” he added.

If the number of children in the family is manageable, there will be more investment when it comes to their health, studies and well-being as a family, according to Tacardon.