Our world is rapidly growing older. Today, there are 703 million people aged 65 or older, a number that is projected to reach 1.5 billion by 2050. According to the latest population estimates and projections from UN DESA’s Population Division, 1 in 6 people in the world will be over the age 65 by 2050, up from 1 in 11 in 2019. The latest projections also show that the number of people aged 80 or over will triple in the next 30 years.

Increase in global number of international migrants continues to outpace growth of the world’s population

The number of international migrants globally reached an estimated 272 million in 2019, an increase of 51 million since 2010.

We live in a world on the move. Across the globe, there are persons who choose to leave their home countries in search of a brighter future with greater opportunities for themselves and their families. In some countries, people have been leaving their home also to escape dangerous conditions, whether naturally occurring or manmade.

In 2017, the world counted 258 million international migrants, representing 3.4 per cent of the global population. But what is the latest tally and what does it say about people on the move today?

As the number of people on the planet continues to rise, UN Secretary-General António Guterres marked World Population Day by highlighting the close link between the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and demographic trends – urging everyone to “unlock opportunities for those left behind and help pave the way for sustainable, equitable and inclusive development for all”.

“For many of the world’s least developed countries, the challenges to sustainable development are compounded by rapid population growth as well as vulnerability to climate change”, he said in a statement on Thurs

This Sunday marked the second International Day of Family Remittances, observed every year on 16 June, in recognition of the fundamental contribution of migrant workers to their families and communities back home.



Here are eight things you might not know about the transformative power of these often small – yet major – contributions to sustainable development worldwide:

1.

The world’s population is expected to increase by 2 billion persons in the next 30 years, from 7.7 billion currently to 9.7 billion in 2050, according to a new United Nations report launched today.

The World Population Prospects 2019: Highlights, which is published by the Population Division of the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, provides a comprehensive overview of global demographic patterns and prospects.

For nearly seven decades, the UN has been collecting and analysing population data from countries or areas around the world to estimate the number of humans inhabiting planet Earth today and in the future. What do these numbers tell us? And why is it so important to be counted? As UN DESA prepares to launch the 2019 revision of World Population Prospects on 17 June 2019, we ask Thomas Spoorenberg, Population Affairs Officer at UN DESA’s Population Division.

World Population Prospects is considered the most accurate and trusted estimate of the human population.

The heads of the eight United Nations organizations constituting the Executive Committee of the United Nations Network on Migration have established the Start-up Fund for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration, the first financing instrument of its kind, to support international cooperation on migration.

UN Member States today reaffirmed their commitment to implementing the goals and objectives of the Programme of Action, adopted at the landmark International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) held in Cairo in 1994. In a declaration, countries agreed that the full implementation of the Programme of Action is crucial for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals contained in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

The 52nd session of the United Nations Commission on Population and Development opened on 1 April at UN Headquarters and is continuing until 5 April.