WASHINGTON, March 23: The world population increased by 1.2 percent in 2002 to total more than 6.2 billion, but its rate of growth has slowed down, the US Census Bureau said in a fresh report published on Monday.

The rate of increase translated into a net addition of about 200,000 people per day and 74 million per year in 2002, roughly equivalent to the population of Egypt, according to the document

The bureau noted a slowdown of global population growth, saying it peaked just over a decade ago. The increase of 74 million in 2002 is substantially below the annual high of 87 million people added in 1989-90, the report said.

Meanwhile, the rate of growth is well below the high of about 2.2 percent a year experienced 40 years ago. The slowdown in global population growth is linked primarily to declines in fertility.

In 1990, women were giving birth, on average, to 3.3 children over their lifetimes, according to the study. By 2002, the average had dropped to 2.6 children - slightly above the level needed to assure replacement of the population.

The bureau projects the level of fertility will go below replacement level before 2050. According to the report, the rise of older age groups relative to younger ones, will be an increasingly significant trend in coming decades in all parts of the world.

In 2050, there will be more than three times as many people age 65 and older as there are today. In contrast, the number of children is expected to remain comparatively stable over the next five decades. -APP