UNFPA’S 2008 STATE OF WORLD POPULATION: Focusing on the Numbers by Jane Roberts: 13/12/2008 (MaximsNews Network)

       UNITED NATIONS - / MaximsNews Network / 13 December 2008 --  Let’s first look at the numbers contained in UNFPA’s 2008 State of World Population (SWOP) entitled Reaching Common Ground: Culture, Gender and Human Rights.

According to the United Nations Population Division, the world’s total population is 6.7 billion, projected to be 9.1 billion by 2050. There are now 1.5 billion people between the ages of 10 and 24, seventy percent of whom are in developing countries.  

Thus there is an established momentum toward population growth because these 1.5 billion people are in or approaching their reproductive years. And more than 95 percent of the growth in population is going to come in the countries least able to cope.  

Thoraya Obaid, executive director of UNFPA, lamented that the family planning share of the overall world reproductive health budget had fallen from 55 percent to only 7 percent in recent years.  

Access to family planning itself, states Obaid, would in important ways contribute to the Millennium Development Goals numbers 4 and 5 of reducing child mortality and improving maternal health. She laments that MDG 5 of improving maternal health is generating the least resources and lagging the furthest behind.  

UNFPA’s 2008 State of World Population (SWOP) report divides countries into three categories. By 2050 the “more developed” regions’ population is projected to  grow from 1.22 to 1.24 billion with a total fertility rate (TFR) of 1.6 children per woman.  

The “less developed” regions’ population is expected to increase from 5.52 to 7.94 billion with a TFR of 2.5.  

The “least developed” countries’ population is projected to grow from 824 million to 1.74 billion with a TFR of 4.6.   

The population of the vast continent of Asia is expected to increase 4 billion to 5.2 billion with a TFR of 2.3; Latin America and the Caribbean is projected to grow from 580 million to 770 million with a TFR of 2.35.  

The United States is expected to increase from 308 million to 402 million with a TFR of 2.05. Immigration will certainly account for some of this growth in the U.S.    

The population of Africa will likely grow from 987 million to 1.2 billion with a TFR of 4.6. If one is speaking only of sub-Saharan Africa, then the total fertility rate is well over 5 children per woman.  

Let’s talk about Africa. On 23 September of this year I received a Global Population Policy Update Issue #84 from UNFPA which serves as the secretariat for the International Parliamentarians’ Conference on the implementation of the International Conference on Population and Development.  

In 1994 ICPD promised universal access to reproductive health including family planning by 2015.   

In Policy Update #84, there were 39 numbered items number 23 of which said: “We recognize that Africa faces a number of serious challenges, including poverty, hunger, climate change, and land degradation and desertification, rapid urbanization, lack of adequate water supplies and energy supply, and HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis and other endemic diseases.  

“We commend African countries for their leadership in addressing those challenges and charting the way forward for the region in the context of the African Union as well as through national and sub-regional plans and strategies.”  

Item 29 stated: We reaffirm the universal commitment to promoting gender equality and the empowerment of women, recognizing that they are key actors in development.  

Item 30 stated: We resolve to increase our efforts to reduce maternal and child mortality and reaffirm the commitment to achieve universal access to reproductive health by 2015. (Family planning was not specifically mentioned.)  

Shouldn’t the word “population” have appeared somewhere in the mix? With all the “challenges” listed in item 23, shouldn’t population stabilization be number one on the list?  

Shouldn’t women’s empowerment and equality be right up at the top of the list?  

Shouldn’t family planning be specifically mentioned when using the general term of reproductive health?  

Kofi Annan, since his retirement as Secretary-General of the United Nations, has been in the forefront of efforts to make Africa self-sufficient in food production. He states clearly that greater investment in women’s rights and in education and health, including reproductive health and family planning, is of paramount importance in Africa and in the world in general.  

The important numbers in the back of the 2008 State of World Population tell the real story.  

In summary, I fear that the United Nations will become, with 9.1 billion people struggling to survive, hardly more than a crisis response, crisis management organization.  

My next column will be a commentary on the main theme of this year’s report, working within cultures to change cultures when human rights are at stake. 

     -- Jane Roberts  

Labels: United Nations, U.N., Jane Roberts, United Nations Population Fund, UNFPA, Thoraya Obaid, family planning, women's rights and education, reproductive health, 2008 State of World Population, Culture, Gender and Human Rights, United Nations Population Division, International Conference on Population and Development, ICPD, Kofi Annan, population growth, MaximsNews Network,

 

Advertisement

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

MaximsNews Network   NEWS NETWORK FOR THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY

MaximsNews Network is a Global News Network that is read worldwide, in 201 countries and territories. MaximsNews Network is associated with MediaChannel.org and Globalvision News Network, global news and media information services with more than 350 news affiliates in 135 countries. 

Established in 1999, MaximsNews Network now publishes in the six UN working languages: English, French, Arabic, Chinese, Russian and Spanish.  

SEE:  About MaximsNews Network

The views expressed are the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of MaximsNews Network.

REACH THE WORLD'S MOST INFLUENTIAL PEOPLE  

SEE: Advertise with MaximsNews Network | MaximsNews MEDIA PARTNERSHIPS with MaximsNews Network      

MaximsNews Network | CONTACT MaximsNews Network  | Please contact us about Republishing: ©Copyrights 1999 - 2008, MaximsNewsNetwork. All rights reserved.