Assuming that the Chinese population continues to grow at the same rate, how many years until the population reaches 1.5 billion?

29 years

Step-by-step explanation:

The population of the Chinese people is 1.3 bn, and they grow at a rate of 0.49% per year. To get the number of years it requires to reach 1.5 bn, we use this method

after x years, the population will be

1.3 * 1.0049^x

so you just need to solve

1.3 * 1.0049^x = 1.5

1.0049^x = 1.5/1.3

x log 1.0049 = log(1.5/1.3)

x = log(1.5/1.3)/log(1.0049)

x = 0.062 / 0.002122

x = 29.25 years

Therefore, at the rate of 0.49%, the Chinese population of 1.3bn needs 29 years to clock 1.5 bn