The world population continues to grow and will reach its peak in 2080, after which the trend will reverse, reported Aleteia.org , citing a new UN study.
The report found that more than half of the world's countries have fallen below the replacement fertility rate, or the level of fertility per woman that would keep the population stable, at 2.1 births per woman. Currently, the world average birth rate is 2.25 births per woman, which means that the world population is still growing, but this rate is already 1 point lower than the 3.25 recorded in 1990.
For example, in 1963 there was a record of 5.31 births per woman (on a global scale), but since then the trend has been downward. The current global average of 2.25 is the lowest birth rate on record. Europe has the lowest birth rate of any continent at 1.4 births per woman, followed by North America at 1.6.
„Blind and unbridled materialism, of consumerism, like an evil virus eats away at the existence of people and society. Selfishness makes a person deaf to the voice of God... homes are filled with objects and emptied of children, becoming very sad places, Pope Francis said.