The first chart illustrates the number of people in million, lived in the rural and urban areas of Pacific Ocean countries between the years of 1950 and 2020, and estimations for 2024, while the second chart highlights the age structure of this populations, dividing into three age brackets during the same period.
Overall, it is clear that the total and urban population rates generally experienced upward trends and are continued to rise, while it remained intact for the urban population over the span. Notably, the rate of 15-65-year-olds contributed by far the largest portion to the total population, and is forecast to surge in 2040.
Focusing on the total and rural population trends, they distributed around 10 million and 6 million respectively in 1950. After which the former is forecast to rise to a peak of about 44 million of population, while the latter is estimated to experience an increase to 38 million of population in 2040. Finally, visually no change was observed in rate of the rural population, and the figure is reported to level out at around 8 million.
Turning to the age groups, people aged 15-65 increased considerably from 5 million to 31 million in 2020. The figure is projected to increase sharply to below 35 million by the end of the period. Meanwhile, under 15 and over 65 aged individuals remained unchanged followed a slight increase at 5 million over the period