The world’s population continues to increase: The GeoFRED map above shows 2014’s percent change in population growth for all nations, and the majority of nations have growth over 1%. The darker shades indicate higher growth, and Africa and the Middle East have the majority of significantly high population increases. In fact, some central African countries are growing by more than 3%. The highest population growth in 2014, 8.1%, was in Oman. Most of the population growth is occurring in less-developed countries, which may be caused by improved health care, which decreases the infant mortality rate. The fertility rate, however, has stayed high, generating an even-larger increase in population. The map below from 2004 shows that there has been minimal change in growth rates over the past decade. Check back with GeoFRED in the future to see things develop.

How this map was created: : The original post referenced interactive maps from our now discontinued GeoFRED site. The revised post provides replacement maps from FRED’s new mapping tool. To create FRED maps, go to the data series page in question and look for the green “VIEW MAP” button at the top right of the graph. See this post for instructions to edit a FRED map. Only series with a green map button can be mapped.

Suggested by Joshua Berry.