8 billion people on earth: What are the opportunities and challenges we face?

The global population reached 8 billion on 15 November 2022, according to the United Nations' World Population Prospects 2022 report. 

This milestone presents both huge opportunities, but also considerable challenges for humankind. 

"[It] is an occasion to celebrate diversity and advancements while considering humanity's shared responsibility for the planet,” said UN Secretary-General António Guterres.

In our latest episode of the Global Conversation, with the help of Friends of Europe, Euronews sat down with the United Nations Population Fund Executive Director, Natalia Kanem, and the European Commission Vice President for Democracy and Demography, Dubravka Šuica to discuss what this all means for us.

Isabel da Silva, Euronews: The United Nations Population Fund has just published the State of the World Population Report. India overtook China as the country with the largest population. It will keep growing very fast. I would like to ask Madam Executive Director, which are the other findings that would you would like to highlight? 

Natalia Kanem, United Nations Population Fund Executive Director: "There are two things that I'll say. One is the world population is reordering itself. We're living in a period where there's so much diversity. Some countries have a mean age of 50, others a mean age of 15. But my real point is that everywhere there seem to be these alarm bells going off. [The] world population [is] too big, [or] too small. Women will make their own decisions and we should support them in the fertility that they wish to have."

Isabel da Silva, Euronews: Madam Vice-President, the European Union has only 6% of the world population and faces a declining trend, which will have a huge impact in terms of financing welfare