The world has passed “peak child”

The number of children in the world has stopped growing. This moment in time was given the term “peak child” by the late Hans Rosling.

The chart shows the estimated number of children under five years old globally up to 2023, with projections from the United Nations out to 2100. The UN thinks the number of under-5s peaked in 2017.

The chart also shows the number of young people under 15, which peaked in 2020. And the number of under-25s, which may have peaked last year.

“Peak child” is a sign that the world is on course for “peak population”. The UN expects the world population to start falling before the end of the century.

Read more about the key insights from the latest UN World Population Prospects →

Where this page came from

This page was imported from Our World in Data. “The world has passed “peak child”” by Hannah Ritchie, published by Our World in Data under CC BY 4.0. Changed here: set as a page, its interactive charts shown as pictures. Data from third parties keeps its own licence.

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