LONDON - The world population reached an estimated 8 billion people on Tuesday, raising questions about what this milestone means for the planet and our efforts to tackle the climate crisis, writs The Week.

The landmark comes as countries meet at the Cop27 summit in Egypt in a bid to make progress on reducing greenhouse gas emissions and efforts to better prepare for a warming planet.

The United Nations has said that population growth and GDP per capita remain the “strongest drivers” of greenhouse gas emissions from burning fossil fuels in the past decade.

And some point out that over the past 50 years, the world’s population has doubled, while global wildlife populations have plummeted by nearly 70 per cent.

Those who advocate slowing global population growth to help fight the climate crisis say growing populations will only make it more difficult for the world to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and limit biodiversity loss.

What Tanzania Tells Us About Africa’s Population Explosion as the World Hits 8bn People

As the global population reaches 8 billion on Tuesday, the effects of Tanzania’s rapid growth are evident. The population has increased by 37% over the past decade to almost 63 million according to the latest UN figures, and, projections suggest, is expected to grow between 2% and 3% a year until 2050.

Tanzania will be one of eight countries responsible for more than half of the increase in global population over the next three decades: five of those countries will be in Africa.

According to UN projections, sub-Saharan Africa’s population will nearly double to more than 2 billion by mid-century.

The region is growing three times faster than the global average and, by 2070, it will become the most populous place globally, surpassing Asia.