World populations - Boomers and losers

Read the extract below and see the graph from The Economist:

African and Arab countries have the fastest growing populations because of their high fertility rates. At the other end of the scale, many of those forecast to shrink most were formerly part of the Soviet Union. Economic decline and political uncertainty since its break-up has resulted in high emigration. For many countries, the opportunities arising from becoming members of the European Union has accelerated this trend.

AFP