Here’s What to Expect from the World by 2050

Tanmay Suresh Redhu

The world in the year 2050 will be a lot different from the world we live in today.

By mid-century, self-driving vehicles would have taken over the streets and a total of 9.6 billion people worldwide will have taken over our villages and cities. Automation would have been revolutionised by Hyperloop. The average number of connected devices per person is expected to rise to 25. Virtual Reality could replace textbooks. 3D printing could be used to construct homes, India would have taken over China to become the most populated country, child mortality will be at an all-time low and what not.

And this is just the tip of the iceberg.

CLIMATIC CHANGES EXPECTED BY 2050

The climate of 2050 will be heavily influenced by our present-day decisions. The actions of our leaders significantly affect the immediate future. The global temperature is ever increasing and it is going to have serious consequences in the future.

Referring to the Paris Climate Agreement, the global community aims to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases, so that the human-caused global warming may never affect the average annual global air temperature by more than two degrees Celsius above those at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution.

Coffee will become a luxury due to climate change and the loss of suitable land.

If we continue to do what we do, the polar ice caps will melt off and raise the sea level, which in turn will result in land submerging under water, even entire countries, like Maldives.

IMPACT OF TIME ON THE WORLD ECONOMY

On the economic front, China would be leading the world, with India in second place, followed by USA in third. UK can fall to 10th, France could be out of the top 10, and Italy out of the top 20 as they are expected by faster growing economies like Vietnam, Turkey and Mexico.

The world economy is expected to grow more than double in size by 2050. All the other current global powerhouse economies will slip down the rankings and will be replaced by currently emerging markets. BRICS will become the biggest economic association, replacing G7 or the Group of Seven, which is said to be currently said to be controlling the global markets.

India is set to take over the ‘Global Superpower’ tag away from the USA by 2050. Since the fossil fuel reserves are depleting and the next decade is all about renewable resources, India’s location gives it an advantage. Being a region in the sunny tropical belt, the Indian subcontinent could greatly benefit from a renewable energy trend, as it has the ideal combination of both - high solar insolation. Another reason is that it will have overtaken China to be the biggest population. Hence, India can utilize the growing population to its advantage and become the manufacturing capital of the world.

Ignoring India in world politics is becoming more and more difficult as India is the already the world’s largest democracy, more than 3 times bigger than the next largest, and this fact has helped them grow their relations with the developed countries. India has been pressing for a permanent spot in UN Security Council, which was being blocked by China and United States. With improved Indo-US relations, US was bound to reconsider its stance on the same. As of 2016, India received the backing of all 5 permanent members and India joining them is just a matter of time.

SPACE TRAVEL?

Thanks to SpaceX and NASA, we could see successfully and probably self-sufficient human colonies set up on Mars by the year 2050. Space tourism could become a reality, though only for the wealthy. Super tall buildings could function like mini-cities in the future. Nearly 2 billion people are expected to live in water scarce countries.

2050 IT IS, THEN?

There will be good changes and there will be bad changes. Who’s to say what will really happen in the next 3 decades? But what will definitely happen is that a Nickelodeon time capsule, that was sealed in April 1992, will be opened. Who wouldn’t want to watch that. All of this is considering that the world isn’t blown up by the nuclear weapons that every country is trying desperately to obtain and those who have it, holding onto them dearly.

What are your expectations for the next 30 years? Share your opinions and views and do  drop a comment!