The United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA) recently released the 28^th edition of its World Population Prospects in which it analyses the historical demographic trend for 237 countries from the year 1950 and until July 1, 2023. The 2024 version of the report revises estimates of the global population by revisiting past estimates where needed and amending assumptions of several indicators (namely fertility, mortality, and international migration) for each country. The estimates provided by the World Population Prospects report use available sources of reliable information, including vital statistics, demographic surveys, and administrative records, not to mention the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mortality rates.

According to the UN DESA, the global population has been steadily increasing since the year 1950, rising from 2.49 trillion in 1950 to 6.17 trillion in the year 2000 and to 8.09 trillion in 2023. Life expectancy has been gradually rising as well, with the life expectancy of men increasing from 44.5 years in 1950 up to 64.0 years in 2000 and 70.5 years in 2023 while that of women rose from 48.4 years in 1950 up to 68.9 years in 2000 and 75.9 years in 2023.

Locally, the total population in Lebanon has followed a similar pattern and has shown an increase from 5.72 million in 2021 to 5.74 million in 2022 and 5.77 million in 2023. The historical data shows a similar trend, with the total Lebanese population rising from 1.35 million in 1950 to 4.33 million in 2000 before reaching 5.70 million in 2020, noting that the proportion of Lebanese males and females has been roughly the same throughout the observed period. The number of births also increased from 56 thousand in 1950 up to 92 thousand in 2000 before arriving to 93 thousand in 2023. The number of deaths in Lebanon peaked at 48 thousand in 2021 compared to 33 thousand in 2022 and to 34 thousand in 2023. The spike in the number of deaths in 2021 may be attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic. The historical data shows that the number of deaths rose from 18 thousand in 1950 to 20 thousand in 2000 before attaining 37 thousand in 2020 at a time when the population was much smaller. The percentage of male and female deaths has been somehow the same over the aforementioned period. Finally, and regarding life expectancy at birth, the UN DESA report revealed that Lebanese individuals were expected to live circa 74 years in 2021, increasing to 78 years in each of 2022 and 2023. Historically, the data reveals that life expectancy has increased from 60 years in 1950 to 74 years in 2000 and 76 years in 2020, which may be explained by the advancement in medicine. The data also shows that Lebanese women are expected to live longer than men by around 5 years on average.