World Population Day: A glance at people and countries around us

July 11 is World Population Day, which aims at spreading awareness about the exploding world population and other important facts about people around us.

Every year, the world's population is expanding by 83 million people. Right now, there are around 7.6 billion+ people in the world. By 2050, the global population will be just short of 10 billion. But population trends are wildly uneven - some countries are rapidly expanding, others are shrinking.

Nigeria is currently seventh on the list of most populous countries. But before 2050, it will be on the third spot, overtaking the US. From 2017 to 2050, India, Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Pakistan, Ethiopia, the United Republic of Tanzania, the US, Uganda and Indonesia will contribute the most to the global population growth.

When it comes to the top national economies globally, the United States tops the list since 1871. However, recent studies indicate that China is gaining on the US and will surpass it as the world's No. 1 economy.At present, going by nominal GDP measured (US $) alone, the US maintains its top spot followed by China and Japan.

Oxfam's latest report highlighted that billionaires were being created at a record rate of one every two days over the past 12 months. This is at a time when the bottom 50% of the world's population had seen no increase in wealth. It added that 82% of the global wealth generated in 2017 went to the most wealthy 1%.

The gap between rich and poor may be reaching its peak. More than 70 per cent of the world's adults own under $10,000 in wealth. This 70 per cent of the world holds only 3 per cent of global wealth. The world's wealthiest individuals, those owning over $100,000 in assets, total only 8.6 per cent of the global population but own 85.6 per cent of global wealth.

Around the world 59 million children of primary school age are being denied education, and almost 65 million adolescents don't have access to a secondary school. The main cause is conflict and natural disasters that have disrupted the education of 75 million children worldwide.

Mohammed is the most common name in the world. An estimated 150 million men or boys have this name. For woman, it is Sophia and its likes. It has been reported that over 90 million girls and women have this name.  John Smiths is the next most common name and widely popular in the US, UK.

Global health and global poverty go hand in hand. Countries living in poverty have little to no access to proper sanitation, clean water, medicine or preventative care. As of 2017, 1.2 billion people around the world live in extreme poverty.

India is the world's fourth-largest economy. But it is way behind the top three: US, China and the European Union. According to a World Bank report, GDP growth in India, Asia's third-largest economy, will be exceeding 7% for the next three years, which is better than China, and miles ahead of other major economies.

Source: World Health Statistics, Oxfam, UN, World Bank, IMF