The population of Cyprus will increase by 5.3 per cent over the next 30 years, according to the latest United Nations projections.

The UN’s ‘World Population Prospects 2024’ report states that Cyprus is among a small number of countries expected to record the largest relative population growth by 2054.

The other countries with a similarly fast pace of growth in this timeframe are Bhutan, Colombia and the Islamic Republic of Iran.

In 1995 Cyprus’ population stood at 854,000. In 2024 it reached 1.352 million. Projections are it will increase to 1.510 million in 2054, then drop to 1.278 million by the end of the century.

Globally, the population is expected to continue growing over the coming 50 or 60 years, peaking at around 10.3 billion people in the mid-2080s, up from 8.2 billion in 2024.

After peaking, the global population is projected to start declining gradually, falling to 10.2 billion people by the end of the century.

The report also stated that one in four people globally live in a country whose population has already peaked in size.

In 63 countries and areas – containing 28 per cent of the world’s population in 2024 – the size of the population peaked before 2024. This group includes China, Germany, Japan and the Russian Federation.

The UN report said women today bear one child fewer, on average, than they did around 1990. Currently, the global fertility rate stands at 2.25 live births per woman, one down from 3.31 births in 1990.