Global Population

Chapter 3 documents the way in which, after World War II, the United Nations Population Division and Population Commission statistically reorganized the world into a series of national populations that could be compared to national economies to promote economic development and that could be aggregated to represent the population of the world as a whole. It contends that this process was initially conceived of as a nation-building project that would promote democracy worldwide by fostering the development of governmental institutions that would simultaneously count populations and constitute self-governing subjects. This effort failed, however, as disputes over sovereignty at local, national, and international levels rendered population data either uncollectable or untrustworthy. Ultimately the UN turned to demographic theory and models to fill in persistent gaps in its data tables, rendering the populations of the world tractable to control by governments and nongovernmental organizations.

United Nations Report: World Population Projections to 2150

The long-range population projections presented here, prepared by the United Nations Population Division, cover the period from 1950 to 2150. A total of seven projections for each of the eight major areas of the world are considered in this report. The variants are distinguished by their assumptions regarding future scenarios in total fertility rates. The range of potential demographic outcomes underscores the difficulty in focusing on any particular scenario and also highlights the critical importance of current policies and actions for the long-range future of the world population.