By Kristine Lofgren, Source: Inhabitat

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According to numbers recently released by the UN, the world’s population is expected reach nearly 11 billion people by 2100. That’s about 8 percent more than was predicted in 2011. While population growth has slowed in developed countries, populations in developing countries, particularly those in Africa, are increasing at a higher rate than expected.
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The global population reached 7 billion in 2011, and at the time, scientists expected birth rates in Africa to begin declining. They haven’t declined as quickly as predicted, and in some cases they’ve held steady, which means that the population will increase faster than expected in those areas. In addition, life expectancy rates across the globe continue to increase. The numbers for this new forecast comes from the University of Washington Center for Statistics and the Social Sciences, with numbers that are finer tuned than previous forecasts.

The African population now sits at 1.1 billion people, and that’s expected to nearly quadruple to 4.2 billion by 2100. “These new findings show that we need to renew policies, such as increasing access to family planning and expanding education for girls, to address rapid population growth in Africa,” Adrian Raftery, a professor of statistics and sociology at the University of Washington said. India is expected to become the most populated country in the world by around 2028. Meanwhile, areas like Europe may see a decline in birth rates.

Right now there are approximately 7.2 billion living on Earth, and over the next 12 years the world population is expected increase by another 1 billion.