As with each passing year, it’s important to review what has been done on the global stage to provide stepping stones for the future. This is especially true when we have reached a milestone. As of November 15th, 2022, Earth reached the population milestone of 8 billion people. Let us look at how the 8 billion people of the world are spread out across the highest population countries of the world.   

Even though the world’s population is growing and we just passed that marker, that doesn’t mean that every country is growing at the same rate. It doesn’t even mean that every country is growing. Some countries are losing their population. However, As life expectancy grows in a country, it’s common for the fertility rate to decrease. Globally, life expectancy has grown from 29 to 73 years since 1800.

Further delving into health, there is a rather high association between a country’s general health, life expectancy, and fertility rate. The longer a country’s life expectancy, the healthier it is. Healthy nations also have lower fertility rates, which follows the pattern that fertility rates are inversely proportional to life expectancy. However, let these findings serve as a learning point for what can be done to help nations become healthier and happier, as well as a focal point for what can be done to help countries become healthier and happier.

Going on that, the 5 healthiest countries in the world are Spain(life expectancy = 83.98 years), Italy(life expectancy = 83.94 years), Iceland (life expectancy = 82.52 years), Japan(life expectancy = 85 years), and Switzerland(life expectancy = 83.65 years). On the flip side, the 5 unhealthiest countries to date are Sierra Leone (life expectancy = 44.40 years), Somalia (life expectancy = 47.80 years), Chad (life expectancy = 46.10 years), Central African Republic (life expectancy = 45.90 years), South Sudan (life expectancy = 49.90 years)