The UN Population Division collaborates closely with the agencies, funds, programmes and bodies of the United Nations in the implementation of the work programme on population and in the follow-up to the International Conference on Population and Development. United Nations missions, national government offices, United Nations offices, researchers, media representatives and the public regularly consult the Population Division regarding population estimates and projections, and information and analyses on population and development issues. Current estimates indicate that roughly 83 million people are being added to the world’s population every year. Even assuming that fertility levels will continue to decline, the global population is expected to reach 8.6 billion in 2030, 9.8 billion in 2050 and 11.2 billion in 2100, according to the medium-variant projection.
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Dossier: Tobacco’s big child labour problem
Despite cigarette consumption dropping globally, their manufacture is still one of the world’s most profitable industries. For many farmers, tobacco cultivation is a vital source of income. One big problem – much of the labour is carried out by children.
Out of Africa
It took a long time for humankind to move out of Africa and inhabit the rest of the planet. Archaeological research and genetic studies based on fossils found in plains of east Africa suggest that modern humans evolved nearly 200,000 years ago.
Under the volcanoes
More than half a billion of the world’s population lives in a distance of 100km or less to one (or several) volcanoes, mostly in regions around the Pacific ‘ring of fire’. Benjamin Hennig charts the impact of volcanoes on nearby human populations.
Population growth: The science of slums
The science of slums In an edited extract from his new book, Danny Dorling, professor of human geography at the University of Sheffield, argues that the idea of the population bomb is a fallacy and that the human population is checking its rise without the need for a grand plan.
The impact of mobile work on partners and families in Australia
Fly-in fly-out work (or FIFO), in which workers travel from their homes to live in host communities for days or weeks at a time,is commonplace in Australia, particularly in the mining and resources sector. However, researchers have identified a deep-rooted sense of disorientation and loneliness among the partners of Australia’s growing community of mobile workers.
Kyrgyzstan and climate change: Kol suu, the Naryn and the Fergana Valley
In the saddle with Katie Arnold as she rides, drives and hitch-hikes across Kyrgyzstan, a country on the frontline of climate change where melting glaciers, drought and erratic rainfall threaten both lives and livelihoods.
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