Eight billion people
World population passes eight billion, and the growth rate falls to its lowest since 1950.
- When
- Known to
- ± 12 hours
- Era
- Contemporary, Holocene
The UN marked 15 November 2022 as the day of eight billion. The eighth billion took eleven years to add, and the ninth is projected to take about fifteen. Growth is now concentrated in sub-Saharan Africa while more than half of humanity lives in countries with fertility below replacement, so the century's demographic story is ageing and shrinking populations rather than expansion.