According to the United Nations, the world’s population will peak at about 10.3 billion people in the mid-2080s, then decline to a much lower level than expected a decade ago.

The current population of 8.2 billion will reach that maximum level within the next 60 years and fall to 10.2 billion by the end of the century, according to a report called World Population Prospects 2024, released on Thursday.

The report says the world population in 2100 will be six percent, or 700 million, less than estimated in June 2013.

“The demographic landscape has changed dramatically in recent years,” said Li Junhua, UN Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs.

According to him, the unexpected population peak is due to a variety of factors, including low birth rates in some of the world’s largest countries, especially China.

He said this lower peak would occur sooner than previously thought, an encouraging sign as the world grapples with global warming: fewer people responsible for less total consumption would mean less pressure on the environment.

“However, slowing population growth will not eliminate the need to reduce the average impact associated with each individual’s activities,” he said.

More than a quarter of the world’s population, or 28 percent, lives in one of 63 countries or regions where populations are already at their peak, including China, Russia, Japan and Germany, the report said.

Nearly 50 more countries, including Brazil, Iran and Turkey, will join this group in the next 30 years. But after 2054, population growth will continue in more than 120 countries. According to the UN, these include India, Indonesia, Nigeria, Pakistan and the United States.

The growth in global life expectancy, which was interrupted by the Covid pandemic, has resumed and reached an average of 73.3 years in 2024. In 2054, the average will be 77.4 years. The research predicts that by the end of the 2070s, the number of people aged 65 and over will reach 2.2 billion, surpassing the population under the age of 18.