The first two volumes of World Population Prospects: The 2000 Revision are available, with volume III of the three-volume series to be published shortly. Prepared by the Population Division of the United Nations Secretariat in New York, the 2000 Revision is the seventeenth round of global demographic estimates and projections undertaken by the Population Division.

Volume I presents the key demographic indicators for each country during the period 1950 to 2050. The tables are accompanied by a brief text detailing the highlights of the results. Volume II contains the distribution by age group and sex of the population of countries and areas with more than 140,000 inhabitants in 2000. Population age and sex distribution are presented for the period from 1950 to 2050. As in volume I, a brief text outlines the highlights of the results. Volume III will be devoted to an in-depth analysis of the results obtained.

A brief synopsis of the key findings of the 2000 Revision shows that:

• The world population totalled 6.1 billion in mid-2000 and is currently growing at 1.2 per cent annually, implying a net addition of 77 million per year. India, followed by China, Pakistan, Nigeria, Bangladesh and Indonesia, account for half the annual increment. By 2050, the global population is projected to be between 7.9 billion (low variant) and 10.9 billion (high variant), with a medium variant producing 9.3 billion people. (In the 1998 Revision, the medium variant figure was 8.9 billion.);

• The population of the more developed regions, currently totalling 1.2 billion, is projected to change little during the next 50 years, although fertility levels are expected to remain below the replacement level of 2.1 children per woman. However, by mid-century the populations of 39 countries are projected to be smaller than today. In contrast, the populations of several developed countries are projected to be significantly larger by 2050;

• The overall population of the less developed regions is projected to rise steadily from 4.9 billion in 2000 to 8.2 billion in 2050 (medium variant), based on assumed continuing declines in fertility. In the absence of such declines, the figure could reach 11.9 billion;

• Life expectancy at birth in 1995-2000 was an estimated 75 years in the more developed regions, and an estimated 63 years in the less developed regions. For 2045-2050, those figures are projected to rise to 75 and 82 years, respectively;

• The impact of the HIV/AIDS pandemic will worsen in terms of increased morbidity, mortality and population loss. Thus, during the next five years, AIDS deaths in the 45 most affected countries (up from 34 countries considered in the 1998 Revision) are projected to total 15.5 million. However, the populations of the most affected countries are still projected to be larger by 2050 than they are today;

• The expected long-term impact of the HIV/AIDS pandemic remains dire, despite the assumption of a significant decline in the probability of being infected by HIV, especially after 2015;

• Globally, the number of older persons (aged 60 years and over) will more than triple from 606 million today to almost 2 billion by 2050. The projected rise in the number of the oldest old (+80 years) is even more marked with an increase from 69 million in 2000 to 379 million in 2050;

• In the more developed regions, the number of persons aged 60 years and over is projected to rise from some 20 per cent of the current total population to 33 per cent in 2050. In the less developed regions, the number of people aged 60 years and over is projected to rise from 8 per cent in 2000 to nearly 20 per cent in 2050;