A woman poses for a photograph with her children in front of house in the slum of Makoko in Lagos, Nigeria, January 22, 2013 * -------------------------------------------------
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Jennifer Lazuta
September 12, 2013
DAKAR — A new report predicts that sub-Saharan Africa will record the world's largest population growth between now and 2050. According to the Population Reference Bureau, the world's poorest region will more than double in population, from 1.1 billion to 2.4 billion. By the year 2050, the report states Africa's population is likely to grow by a staggering 1.3 billion people -- the largest growth of any region in the world, including Asia, which currently has about 60 percent of people on the planet.
Sub-Saharan Africa, where fertility rates are among the highest in the world, will account for the majority of the increase. In sub-Saharan Africa, the population is expected to grow from 926 million people to nearly 2.2 billion people.
Africa's population explosion has the potential to zoom past current estimates, said Carl Haub, a senior demographer at the Population Reference Bureau, a Washington-based non-profit group. “Sub-Saharan Africa has, without a doubt, the greatest population growth potential of any region," said Haub. "The projection today is that it will increase by about two and a half times. But the important thing to remember is that even that projection assumes that the birth ate in sub-Saharan Africa will decrease. And in many of those countries