TEXT OF INTERVIEW
BILL RADKE: In Sydney, Australia, today population experts are discussing a study out this week that says the number of Australians will grow by more than a third between now and 2050. Population is the topic of today’s Marketplace Globalist Quiz
with our quiz master Stephan Richter. Hello Stephen.
STEPHAN RICHTER: Good morning, Bill. Are you ready for today’s quiz?
RADKE: I’m ready.
RICHTER: Bill, we know that in 2050 the big three — that is India, China and the United States — will be the world’s most populous countries. My question to you, and it’s a tough one: Which country will be home to the world’s fourth largest population by mid-century? Is it Nigeria, Indonesia, Bangladesh or Pakistan?
RADKE: When I don’t know, Stephen, I grasp for the one piece of information I have. I think Indonesia is the world’s biggest Muslim country, so that’s where I’m going. Indonesia.
RICHTER: You’re a very educated man. It is currently the world’s most populous Muslim nation, but by 2050 because of a lower fertility rate from currently fourth in the world, it will move down to sixth.
RADKE: Really? Nigeria, Bangladesh or Pakistan? I’m just going to look dumber and dumber as I go. I’ll say Nigeria.
RICHTER: Nigeria isn’t bad because it will double its population over the next 40 years and it will rise to fifth. So you’re getting closer, but it’s currently eighth, so I’m sorry to kind of keep torturing you today.
RADKE: Good term for it. Is Bangladesh really big enough to be the fourth most populous country?
RICHTER: Nope. It will rise, it will go up to seventh, but I guess that leaves the country.
RADKE: OK. I’m going to guess Pakistan, D.
RICHTER: That’s a brilliant guess. See, I thought you would go for that first because you would have said, “Well, Pakistan is all in the headlines.” And that really tells us quite something because Pakistan, on top of everything else that we hear in the headlines, is going to be a population time bomb. So that’s the country that will be fourth by 2050 according to the U.N. population division’s projections at a cool 335 million people.
RADKE: Educating you, embarrassing me. Stephan Richter, our global quiz master, thank you.
RICHTER: We all learn together.
RADKE: Stephan Richter publishes and edits The Globalist.
You can learn more about the global economy, politics and culture, by going to TheGlobalist.com.
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