The UN's new world population forecasts suggest that Romania's population set to fall by more than 15 percent by 2050, placing it in the group of countries with the biggest population drops. Romania's large predicted population fall will be mirrored in a number of other countries in the region: Belarus, Bulgaria, Croatia, Georgia, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Romania, Russia, Serbia and Ukraine, as well as in Cuba. Overall, Europe is expected to see a 14 percent fall.

Global population is expected to increase from the current 7.2 billion to 8.1 billion in 2025 and 9.6 billion in 2050. India will probably overtake China sometime around 2028, when both countries are expected to have populations of around 1.45 billion, according to the UN.

Although fertility rates around the world are falling, they are not falling fast enough to offset the rises in population. Africa is set to see a huge rise in population over the next 100 years, with a rise from 1.1 billion at present to 2.4 billion in 2050 and a possible 4.2 billion by 2100.

As well as overall increases the world in population, the world will see an increasingly aging population, particularly in countries such as Romania where fertility rates are low and/or falling. In the developed world, there are already more older people than children and by 2050, the UN expects there to be twice as many old people than children.

editor@romania-insider.com