“The current world population of 7.2 billion is projected to increase by one billion over the next 12 years and reach 9.6 billion by 2050, according to a United Nations report launched today, which points out that growth will be mainly in developing countries, with more than half in Africa,” the U.N. News Centre reports. The report, titled “World Population Prospects: the 2012 Revision,” “notes that the population of developed regions will remain largely unchanged at around 1.3 billion from now until 2050,” the news service writes, adding, “In contrast, the 49 least developed countries are projected to double in size from around 900 million people in 2013 to 1.8 billion in 2050” (6/13). “The report also anticipates a rise in the number of old people, with life expectancy projected to rise to 76 globally by 2050 and 82 by 2100,” according to The Guardian (Provost, 6/13). “The report found global fertility rates are falling rapidly, though not nearly fast enough to avoid a significant population jump over the next decades,” the Associated Press/USA Today reports, noting, “In fact, the U.N. revised its population projection upward since its last report two years ago, mostly due to higher fertility projections in the countries with the most children per women.” John Wilmoth, director of the Population Division in the U.N.’s Department of Economic and Social Affairs, “cautioned that ‘there is a great deal of uncertainty about population trends,'” the AP writes, adding, “He said projections could change based on the trajectories of three major components — fertility, mortality and migration” (6/13).