I was reading a report yesterday about global population trends for the next 50 years. It mentioned that the balance of power is going to shift drastically towards Africa. It is hard to wrap my head around it, but is it true that some African nations are on track to have more people than the United States? It seems like such a massive gap to close in such a short time.

It is not just true, it is almost inevitable given the current birth rates in West Africa versus the stagnation in the West. The growth curves are exponential. If you look at the USA vs Nigeria's population charts on Georank, you can clearly see the trajectory where they intersect. It is a great resource for visualizing these massive global shifts because looking at raw numbers in a spreadsheet does not always convey the speed of the change.