WORLD POPULATION DAY-2012
On 11th July 1987 the birth
of Matej Gashpar of Zagreb in Croatia is said to have tipped the world's
population over the five billion mark and as a result the United Nations World
Population Fund (UNPF) decided to recognise this milestone. From henceforth 11thJuly
has been designated as World Population Day. From the beginning of time it took
until 1804 for the world's population to reach the one billion mark, but only a
further 123 years to reach two billion in 1927. Population rise during the 20th century
really took off. By 1960, three billion had been reached, but within 14 years,
in 1974, the total had reached four billion.Only 13 years elapsed before Matej
Gashpar's birth of brought the total to five billion and 12 years later, the
UNPF designated 12th October 1999 as the Day of Six Billion.
And so it continues. 31st November 2011 was declared the Day of
Seven Billion and by now United Nations Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA)
was beginning to show serious concern.A programme was introduced that would
seek to build global awareness around the opportunities and challenges
associated with a world of seven billion people and inspire individuals and
organisations to take action. Current predictions for the future consider that
there will be a continued increase in population, but a general steady decline
in the population growth rate. The United States Census Bureau (USCB) estimates
that by 2027 eight billion people will live on the planet, with the nine
billionth mark being reached in 2046.These future projections are obviously
highly speculative, with estimates for 2050 ranging from a low of 7.4 billion
to a high of 10.6 billion. Longer-range predictions vary even more. One view is
that by 2150 world population will have declined to 3.2 billion, while another
view is that it will have increased to 24.8 billion. An extreme prediction is
that world population will have risen to 256 billion by this time. Unfortunately
the resources of the world are finite and with no more arable land or fresh
water to spare, it is becoming increasingly impossible for food production to
keep pace with these rises in population. To make matter worse, the world's
stocks of natural
resources that support human life-food such as fresh water,
quality soil, energy and biodiversity are
all being polluted, degraded or otherwise depleted.
In the 1960s when world population was a
mere three billion, approximately 0.5 hectares of cropland per capita was
available, but within 40 years this had dropped to 0.23 hectares. Soil
worldwide has become seriously degraded and current erosion rates are higher
than ever, with estimates of 10 million hectares of cropland being abandoned each
year.Another 10 million hectares is lost each year as a result of salinisation,
due chiefly to inappropriate irrigation or drainage methods. In many cases the
only way for land to be at all productive is by the use of large quantities of
fossil fuel-based fertiliser. These problems are most serious in the developing
world. China and India together have about a third of the world's population.
In China, for instance, the population currently stands at some 1.35 billion
and is growing at an annual rate of about 0.6%. With its predominately young
population this is expected to increase for another 50 years. India has around
1.2 billion people, with an annual growth rate of about 1.7%. If this trend
continues, by around 2050 the population of India will have doubled.
Africa has of course been hit by an AIDS
epidemic, but in spite of this the populations of most countries continue to
rise. The populations of both Chad and Ethiopia are expected to double before
the mid-2030s.Even in the so-called developed world the population-growth
problem is still significant. The US population now stands at some 300 million.
It has doubled in the past 60 years and estimates are that it will have reached
600 million by the 2070s. Even the estimated figure of nine billion for the
world's population in 2050 is said to be questionable, since a large share
falls within the 15-40 age group, where reproduction rates are high.This brings
us to a contentious area of what seems to be an intractable problem. If the
world's population continues to grow and it becomes increasingly difficult to
feed this number of people, should something be done to limit its number?With
thoughts of overpopulation in mind, people began to put forward arguments to
justify some form of population control. However, many people would have
serious moral objections to the use of any plans to use contraception in order
to control population.The United Nations 1968 International Conference on Human
Rights makes it clear that parents have a basic right to determine freely and
responsibly the number and spacing of their children.
It is argued that if rich countries were to
stop consuming more than their fair share of the world's resources the problems
of a rising population would diminish and there would be no need for population
controls to be imposed upon poor nations.The obvious answer is for a united
policy to link the major players in the world, but unfortunately the major
players seem unable to reach agreement. Awareness-raising events associated
with World Population Day can help, but meanwhile the world just seems to
bumble along and hope for the best.The United Nations has named Wednesday World
Population Day 2012, and the emphasis this year is on access to reproductive
health. The U.N. says the number of women in the world’s poorest
countries who want to use contraception, but don't, increased by nine million. There
are already seven billion people living in this world. Half of the population
is under the age of 25.“We add a quarter of a million people a day to the world
population, and, of course, the planet itself is not growing,” said John Seager,
president of Population Connection, an organization that promotes stabilizing
population numbers.Seager says all women should be able to select the size of
their families and, when they do, they typically choose to have fewer children.
But a recent United Nations report says 222 million women worldwide who want to
avoid or delay pregnancy have no access to birth control. And that the
number of women not using contraception in the world's poorest countries has
increased over the past four years.Two of those countries are Pakistan and
India. Ilhaam Jaffer came to the United States from Pakistan as an infant. Her
mother is Pakistani and her father, Indian. She says talk of birth
control in her parents' countries is often taboo for religious and cultural
reasons.“If a woman has a pregnancy prior to when she had planned on it, in her
mind, education and her career and various other things are put on the back
burner,” Jaffer said.Jaffer says that creates a society of young mothers with
lower earning power and that ultimately affects the nation's economy.Another
poor country with a big population is Ethiopia. Mahala Dejene arrived in
the United States two years ago and says family planning has improved in
Ethiopia.“Before - year by year - they have children. Now, they control
the baby, the family,” Dejene said.The United Nations calls for universal
access to reproductive health by 2015. Ilhaam Jaffer thinks she knows the
key to getting there.“The only solution I think is educating the women. If
you educate a woman, you educate an entire family,” Jaffer said.
Prof. John Kurakar
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