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These are the countries with the fastest shrinking populations

Old San Juan, the center for Puerto Rican tourism, 12 November 2013
Old San Juan, the center for Puerto Rican tourism, 12 November 2013

In a week when India has been projected to overtake China’s population by 2022, it’s easy to forget that not every country is growing.

A decreasing population usually occurs as a result of emigration and/or death rates exceeding birth rates.

Based on World Bank population data, here are the ten countries with the fastest shrinking populations:

Puerto Rico comes top of the list, with a population decline of 1.3 per cent from 2013 to 2014. The current economic crisis in Puerto Rico has prompted an exodus, as the nation’s debt is rated at approximately $73 billion.

Meanwhile the remainder of the top ten is dominated by EU member states, also for primarily economic migration reasons.

The UK population is growing at a rate of approximately 0.6 per cent per year, marginally lower than the US and marginally higher than our EU neighbours France.

More:The world population map with a difference

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