Global population increased by 225% from 2.5 billion to 8.1 billion between 1950 and 2023.
Africa‘s share of the World’s population increased from 9% in 1950 to 18% in 2023, while Europe’s share decreased from 22% to 9% during the same time. Asia had the largest population share, accounting for 59% of the World’s total in 2023.
Global child mortality rates, which measure the number of deaths of children who die before the age of five for every 1,000 live births, have significantly decreased from 227 in 1950 to 36 in 2023.
In 2023, Europe had the lowest child mortality rate in the world with just four deaths per 1,000 live births before the age of five.
On the other hand, Africa had the highest child mortality rate in 2023 with 63 deaths per 1,000 live births. However, Africa also experienced the largest overall decline in child mortality rates from 1950 to 2023.
Global life expectancy at birth increased from 46.4 years in 1950 to 73.2 years in 2023.
In Africa, life expectancy increased from an average annual of 37.2 years in 1950 to 63.8 years in 2023. However, this is still the lowest life expectancy of any region in the World. Every other World region had a life expectancy of greater than 70 years in 2023. North America had the highest life expectancy at birth in 2023 at 79.6 years, followed by Europe at 79.1 years, both more than 15 years higher than Africa.
Figure 1.1 shows three sets of data measuring changes in global average near surface temperatures from 1850 to 2023.
The warmest year on record in all these series was 2023. The temperature in the Hadley Centre series in 2023 and the NASA Goddard series were both 1.44 0Celsius above the average 1850-1899 level; whilst the temperature in the NOAA series was 1.43 0Celsius above this average.
Globally, nine of the ten warmest years on record since 1850 occurred in the decade since 2014.
| Year | HadCRUT5 (by Met Office Hadley Centre and Climatic Research Unit) | GISTEMP (by NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies) | NOAAGlobalTemp (by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1850 | -0.08 | 0 | 0.07 |
| 1851 | 0.11 | 0 | 0.15 |
| 1852 | 0.11 | 0 | 0.14 |
| 1853 | 0.07 | 0 | 0.13 |
| 1854 | 0.05 | 0 | 0.13 |
| 1855 | 0.04 | 0 | 0.13 |
| 1856 | 0.02 | 0 | -0.01 |
| 1857 | -0.13 | 0 | -0.03 |
| 1858 | -0.05 | 0 | 0.03 |
| 1859 | 0.06 | 0 | 0.16 |
| 1860 | -0.05 | 0 | 0.01 |
| 1861 | -0.09 | 0 | -0.01 |
| 1862 | -0.2 | 0 | -0.06 |
| 1863 | 0 | 0 | 0.09 |
| 1864 | -0.13 | 0 | 0.06 |
| 1865 | 0.01 | 0 | 0.12 |
| 1866 | 0 | 0 | 0.15 |
| 1867 | -0.02 | 0 | 0.07 |
| 1868 | -0.01 | 0 | 0.11 |
| 1869 | 0.02 | 0 | 0.13 |
| 1870 | 0.01 | 0 | 0.08 |
| 1871 | -0.03 | 0 | 0.08 |
| 1872 | 0.01 | 0 | 0.07 |
| 1873 | 0 | 0 | 0.06 |
| 1874 | -0.03 | 0 | 0.04 |
| 1875 | -0.04 | 0 | 0.05 |
| 1876 | -0.08 | 0 | 0.03 |
| 1877 | 0.24 | 0 | 0.29 |
| 1878 | 0.33 | 0 | 0.3 |
| 1879 | 0.04 | 0 | 0.13 |
| 1880 | 0.02 | 0.1 | 0.07 |
| 1881 | 0.11 | 0.18 | 0.12 |
| 1882 | 0.04 | 0.16 | 0.12 |
| 1883 | -0.01 | 0.1 | 0.02 |
| 1884 | -0.15 | -0.02 | -0.07 |
| 1885 | -0.13 | -0.07 | -0.08 |
| 1886 | -0.08 | -0.05 | -0.01 |
| 1887 | -0.16 | -0.09 | -0.07 |
| 1888 | -0.04 | 0.1 | 0.07 |
| 1889 | 0.09 | 0.16 | 0.17 |
| 1890 | -0.17 | -0.08 | -0.03 |
| 1891 | -0.06 | 0.05 | 0.06 |
| 1892 | -0.17 | -0.01 | -0.01 |
| 1893 | -0.15 | -0.04 | -0.07 |
| 1894 | -0.14 | -0.03 | 0.01 |
| 1895 | -0.11 | 0.04 | 0.05 |
| 1896 | 0.06 | 0.16 | 0.18 |
| 1897 | 0.08 | 0.16 | 0.17 |
| 1898 | -0.15 | 0 | 0.02 |
| 1899 | -0.02 | 0.09 | 0.08 |
| 1900 | 0.11 | 0.19 | 0.16 |
| 1901 | 0.05 | 0.11 | 0.11 |
| 1902 | -0.1 | -0.01 | 0.01 |
| 1903 | -0.19 | -0.1 | -0.07 |
| 1904 | -0.26 | -0.2 | -0.19 |
| 1905 | -0.07 | 0.01 | 0 |
| 1906 | 0.02 | 0.05 | 0.04 |
| 1907 | -0.16 | -0.12 | -0.09 |
| 1908 | -0.17 | -0.16 | -0.16 |
| 1909 | -0.2 | -0.21 | -0.19 |
| 1910 | -0.19 | -0.17 | -0.15 |
| 1911 | -0.2 | -0.18 | -0.17 |
| 1912 | -0.14 | -0.1 | -0.09 |
| 1913 | -0.13 | -0.08 | -0.08 |
| 1914 | 0.08 | 0.12 | 0.1 |
| 1915 | 0.15 | 0.13 | 0.14 |
| 1916 | -0.08 | -0.09 | -0.07 |
| 1917 | -0.2 | -0.19 | -0.19 |
| 1918 | -0.08 | -0.03 | -0.04 |
| 1919 | 0.01 | -0.01 | 0 |
| 1920 | 0.04 | 0 | -0.01 |
| 1921 | 0.1 | 0.08 | 0.07 |
| 1922 | 0 | -0.01 | -0.01 |
| 1923 | 0.02 | 0.01 | 0 |
| 1924 | 0.03 | 0 | 0.02 |
| 1925 | 0.06 | 0.05 | 0.04 |
| 1926 | 0.22 | 0.16 | 0.16 |
| 1927 | 0.11 | 0.05 | 0.06 |
| 1928 | 0.13 | 0.07 | 0.08 |
| 1929 | -0.05 | -0.09 | -0.07 |
| 1930 | 0.16 | 0.11 | 0.13 |
| 1931 | 0.24 | 0.18 | 0.18 |
| 1932 | 0.19 | 0.11 | 0.12 |
| 1933 | 0.02 | -0.01 | -0.01 |
| 1934 | 0.17 | 0.15 | 0.14 |
| 1935 | 0.13 | 0.07 | 0.09 |
| 1936 | 0.17 | 0.12 | 0.13 |
| 1937 | 0.32 | 0.24 | 0.25 |
| 1938 | 0.33 | 0.27 | 0.26 |
| 1939 | 0.3 | 0.25 | 0.25 |
| 1940 | 0.42 | 0.4 | 0.4 |
| 1941 | 0.38 | 0.46 | 0.46 |
| 1942 | 0.34 | 0.34 | 0.33 |
| 1943 | 0.35 | 0.36 | 0.34 |
| 1944 | 0.48 | 0.48 | 0.48 |
| 1945 | 0.38 | 0.36 | 0.38 |
| 1946 | 0.22 | 0.2 | 0.2 |
| 1947 | 0.25 | 0.24 | 0.23 |
| 1948 | 0.22 | 0.17 | 0.18 |
| 1949 | 0.2 | 0.16 | 0.18 |
| 1950 | 0.11 | 0.1 | 0.12 |
| 1951 | 0.28 | 0.2 | 0.24 |
| 1952 | 0.36 | 0.28 | 0.3 |
| 1953 | 0.42 | 0.35 | 0.37 |
| 1954 | 0.22 | 0.14 | 0.17 |
| 1955 | 0.14 | 0.13 | 0.12 |
| 1956 | 0.08 | 0.08 | 0.07 |
| 1957 | 0.3 | 0.32 | 0.3 |
| 1958 | 0.32 | 0.33 | 0.33 |
| 1959 | 0.29 | 0.3 | 0.32 |
| 1960 | 0.22 | 0.24 | 0.27 |
| 1961 | 0.32 | 0.33 | 0.31 |
| 1962 | 0.28 | 0.3 | 0.3 |
| 1963 | 0.3 | 0.32 | 0.33 |
| 1964 | 0.03 | 0.07 | 0.1 |
| 1965 | 0.14 | 0.16 | 0.18 |
| 1966 | 0.19 | 0.21 | 0.22 |
| 1967 | 0.22 | 0.25 | 0.26 |
| 1968 | 0.17 | 0.19 | 0.19 |
| 1969 | 0.31 | 0.32 | 0.34 |
| 1970 | 0.26 | 0.3 | 0.3 |
| 1971 | 0.13 | 0.19 | 0.19 |
| 1972 | 0.25 | 0.28 | 0.27 |
| 1973 | 0.39 | 0.43 | 0.44 |
| 1974 | 0.17 | 0.2 | 0.2 |
| 1975 | 0.23 | 0.26 | 0.26 |
| 1976 | 0.12 | 0.17 | 0.21 |
| 1977 | 0.44 | 0.45 | 0.45 |
| 1978 | 0.35 | 0.34 | 0.36 |
| 1979 | 0.43 | 0.43 | 0.47 |
| 1980 | 0.54 | 0.53 | 0.54 |
| 1981 | 0.59 | 0.59 | 0.6 |
| 1982 | 0.37 | 0.41 | 0.44 |
| 1983 | 0.56 | 0.58 | 0.59 |
| 1984 | 0.39 | 0.43 | 0.44 |
| 1985 | 0.39 | 0.39 | 0.41 |
| 1986 | 0.44 | 0.45 | 0.46 |
| 1987 | 0.58 | 0.59 | 0.58 |
| 1988 | 0.62 | 0.66 | 0.66 |
| 1989 | 0.52 | 0.54 | 0.54 |
| 1990 | 0.7 | 0.72 | 0.69 |
| 1991 | 0.68 | 0.68 | 0.66 |
| 1992 | 0.47 | 0.49 | 0.48 |
| 1993 | 0.51 | 0.5 | 0.51 |
| 1994 | 0.57 | 0.58 | 0.57 |
| 1995 | 0.72 | 0.72 | 0.73 |
| 1996 | 0.62 | 0.6 | 0.6 |
| 1997 | 0.76 | 0.74 | 0.75 |
| 1998 | 0.92 | 0.88 | 0.88 |
| 1999 | 0.66 | 0.65 | 0.67 |
| 2000 | 0.67 | 0.66 | 0.68 |
| 2001 | 0.83 | 0.8 | 0.8 |
| 2002 | 0.88 | 0.9 | 0.87 |
| 2003 | 0.88 | 0.89 | 0.88 |
| 2004 | 0.81 | 0.8 | 0.79 |
| 2005 | 0.95 | 0.95 | 0.95 |
| 2006 | 0.91 | 0.91 | 0.91 |
| 2007 | 0.93 | 0.93 | 0.9 |
| 2008 | 0.81 | 0.81 | 0.79 |
| 2009 | 0.94 | 0.93 | 0.9 |
| 2010 | 1.02 | 1 | 0.97 |
| 2011 | 0.88 | 0.88 | 0.87 |
| 2012 | 0.92 | 0.92 | 0.9 |
| 2013 | 0.96 | 0.95 | 0.93 |
| 2014 | 1.01 | 1.02 | 1.01 |
| 2015 | 1.17 | 1.17 | 1.16 |
| 2016 | 1.27 | 1.29 | 1.28 |
| 2017 | 1.19 | 1.2 | 1.19 |
| 2018 | 1.1 | 1.12 | 1.11 |
| 2019 | 1.23 | 1.25 | 1.22 |
| 2020 | 1.26 | 1.29 | 1.26 |
| 2021 | 1.1 | 1.12 | 1.11 |
| 2022 | 1.14 | 1.17 | 1.15 |
| 2023 | 1.44 | 1.44 | 1.43 |
China was the world’s highest producer of greenhouse gas emissions in 2022 at 13.9 billion tonnes, up 204% from its 1990-1994 average figure and overtaking the USA. Emissions from India and Brazil also increased by 152% and 10% respectively over the same period.
Emissions from the other states covered by this indicator all fell over the period from 1990-2022. The 2022 emissions for the European Union (EU27), the Russian Federation, Japan and the United States were all lower (by 27%, 15%, 12% and 3% respectively) than their average emissions for 1990-1994.
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