Megatrend: Changing demographics
We expect major shifts in the world population over the next 20 years. To better understand this phenomenon, we broke down "Changing demographics" into three subtrends: Growing world population, Aging societies and Increasing urbanization. The data we collected presents a clear picture of how these aspects will shape the future.
World population will grow to over 8 billion people
With the population projected to grow 20% over the next 20 years to 8.3 billion people by 2030, 1.4 billion new potential customers and rising standards of living will offer major additional market potential. The focus of population growth will be on developing countries, as their populations will grow 7 times faster than that of developed countries, ultimately reaching 7 billion people by 2030.
The global population will become 5.1 years older
Mainly due to increasing life expectancy, global median age will increase by 5.1 years to 34 years in 2030. Especially in the developed countries, where the median age will reach 44 years, the 60+ age group will gain importance as a customer group. The developing countries will age by 5.5 years, reaching a median age of 32 years in 2030.
Urbanization will continue
City infrastructures will face new challenges as 59% of the world population will live in cities in 2030 – this figure will be as high as 81% in developed countries vs. 55% in the developing world. This represents a global increase of 8.5 percentage points over the next 20 years and an acceleration of urbanization growth compared to the past.
