*** Welcome to piglix ***

Demographics of the world


Demographics of the world include population density, ethnicity, education level, health measures, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population.

The overall total population of the world is approximately 7.45 billion, to July 2016.

Its overall population density is 50 people per km² (129.28 per sq. mile), excluding Antarctica. Nearly two-thirds of the population lives in Asia and is predominantly urban and suburban, with more than 2.5 billion in the countries of China and India combined. The World's fairly low literacy rate (83.7%) is attributable to impoverished regions. Extremely low literacy rates are concentrated in three regions, the Arab states, South and West Asia, and Sub-Saharan Africa. Christianity, Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism are the four largest religions encompassing a little over 75% of the populace.

The world's largest ethnic group is Han Chinese. Although English (5.52%) is spoken by many as a second language, Mandarin Chinese (14.1%) and Spanish (5.85%) are the languages with the highest number of native speakers.

Human migration has been shifting toward cities and urban centers, with the urban population jumping from 29% in 1950, to 50.5% in 2005. Working backwards from the United Nations prediction that the world will be 51.3 percent urban by 2010, Dr. Ron Wimberley, Dr. Libby Morris and Dr. Gregory Fulkerson estimated May 23, 2007 to be the first time the urban population outnumbered the rural population in history.China and India are the most populous countries, as the birth rate has consistently dropped in developed countries and until recently remained high in developing countries. Tokyo is the largest urban conglomeration in the world.


...
Wikipedia

...