Seven billion people… and counting

So, as the seventh billion person enters the world, a landmark predicted this Halloween, where does this leave the global family?

The short answer is, expanding… rapidly. The most likely average scenario is, reportedly, that the world population will grow to 9.7 billion by 2050. And that figure assumes a substantial increase in the number of contraceptive users in developed and developing countries.

If contraceptive use remains stable, however, the world population could reach 11.9 billion by 2050. Grappling for perspective, that means by the time a child born in the mid-80s reaches retirement age, there will be more than double the amount of people on the planet with them.

And there is a further variable to consider. If contraceptive use declines, which could occur unless investment is increased immediately in family planning, then the population will be significantly higher still.

By reducing unmet need for contraception, empowering women and increasing education for girls, it is possible to achieve the lower population growth path deemed possible by demographers at the UN.

And the stakes could barely be higher. The carbon footprint of people in most developing countries is tiny but the impact of climate change on their lives is increasing exponentially. Growing pressure on natural resources, rising water levels and less arable land are making it harder for women and their families to get by – to find firewood and grow food to eat. Harder still, to bring in money for schooling, for health care or to build a future for their children.

In short, we are standing at a reproductive crossroads, with 1.5 billion adolescents and young people entering their sexual and reproductive years. What the future holds for them depends on whether we can work together to develop sustainably.

We have a long way to go. Interact Worldwide’s colleagues in India, for example, tell us that young people there simply don’t have access to contraceptives. There isn’t even adequate information about reproductive health.. There are thousands of peer educators volunteering their time to make the information available, supporting people to make the choices that work for them, often in very conservative environments. But even then, it’s very difficult to link them up with services – to turn choices into action- because family planning and contraception are not priorities.

They’re caught in a self-defeating cycle. Each time a young woman makes a wasted journey to a clinic with an empty supplies cupboard the question is, will she make the journey again? And what will that mean for her future? We’re working to support women, men and communities to demand better health services but without adequate funding the reality is that the store cupboard will probably remain empty for the foreseeable future.

There is a will, with 215 million women wanting to limit or space their births but until governments and the private sector work together to fund a range of contraceptive methods – including methods that are culturally and socially acceptable to these women – they will continue to be denied the right to determine their own fertility.

Evidence shows that if you give women and adolescent girls a platform to consider and articulate their needs, as well as genuine support to realize their rights, then they will make the reproductive choices that work for them, their families and their communities. And that has to be at the heart of sustainable development.

Marie Staunton, CEO Interact Worldwide. Interact Worldwide is the UK partner of Countdown 2015 Europe.

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• wasexpat

  The only foreign aid that the UK should give is contraception.

• Tom T

  That is entirely not the point. 

• natly

  Thank you for an excellent article.

• http://pulse.yahoo.com/_2ZSFP6XVRTF2CYAVHSFZ5I4BQY AHRishon

  I understand the concern of the article, since it is based on the presumption that a large portion of Humanity’s problem is related to overpopulation.
  Thus basically the article sounds like controlling the number of animals in a flock or in a zoo, removing the human element from the equation completely.
  Our problems have nothing to do with the population of Humanity.
  With mutual responsibility and equal distribution, and if we learn how to become harmonious with our environment this planet could sustain a much higher human population.
  So in my opinion instead of playing the number game, and worry about how to control the body count we should think about what it means to be Human, what the purpose of our life should be, and how we should achieve balance in between ourselves and with our environment.
  Of course it is a more complicated, and difficult process, but we cannot cut corners any more. Controlling the number of people born will not solve our problems, or secure our survival.
  Understanding ourselves and the system we exist in will.

• MrPugg

  Global warming. Air and sea pollution. Toxic wastes. Too much greed, too little food. Overcrowded cities and countries. Dis-harmoney and wars. Global financial crisis. Not enough jobs for everyone. Not enough health care for everyone. Not enough room for wild animals. No fish left in the sea.  New diseases cropping up frequently. Do you remember the 60`s song – “Now half the world hurts the other half, and half the world has all the food, and half the world lays down and slowly starves cos theres not enough love to go round”. A bit romantic but there is only one solution to the worlds problems. JUST ONE. And it s simple to solve, although perhaps not that easy to enforce. People say there are  too many cars in the world, there is too much corruption, there is  too much anger, there is too much carbon in the atmosphere etc.  -  and the reason is - THERE ARE JUST TOO MANY PEOPLE.  The earth is becoming unmanagable because of the volume of its inhabitants. Halve the worlds population and you halve the above problems. .  Just by each family only having two children the population will decrease by 25% in a single generation. Population size is the real and only issue – the above are just consequences of it. If man finds no solution to this the rest is immaterial.   Just my views.

• senexlondon

  Basically the planet’s doomed anyway because the sun will eventually burn us to a crisp. but leo24 is correct too much of everything bad and too many people.

• ewdt

  You must be joking. Excellent how? Because from sources such as the Economist, this article presents a false picture and is a poor article.

  Population growth is decreasing. It took longer for the world to make this billion than the previous billion and that trend is set to continue. Birth rates in many countries have dropped to or are below replacement levels. Even in countries where birth rates are much higher falls have been seen. True population is still rising overall but it is slowing and leveling off. Further populations are ageing fast and wage earners are declining as a % of the population.

  People are having fewer or having children later in life as they are struggling to pay the bills. And the greater competition from globalisation and desire of goods from our consumer society.

  Whilst I agree that further immigration to staunch these problems is not the solution, I think that we need to seriously consider further raising the retirement age. When the pension was brought in the USA at 65, the average age was 63. I am sorry but we are going to work longer and it is unfair and it is not nice but do you expect a handout?

  I think that the issues are so complex and there is no single solution as it will be a huge balancing act but to suggest that handing out a few more condoms in Africa is the biggest benefit given we are now 7m and population growth is slowing today is frankly insulting. Does the author work for an organisation that seeks to give out condoms?

• natly

  Specifically I am concerned with the wellbeing of women and children in the developing world in relation to childbearing rather than economic problems in the west such as pension provision and consumer culture.

  I do strongly believe in the many benefits of improving the ability of women in developing contries to access information and be empowered to make their own decisions about family planning. It is about much more than handing out free condoms.

• GlobalEd33

  Even if population size were controlled effectively, this would not solve our problem, delay maybe, but not solve. Population size WOULD be the sole issue if human consumption was determined solely by what a person needs, but this is not the case. Studying the psychological basis of human consumption reveals that “want” and “need” are blurred, confused issues and defined by factors not limited to physical necessity. Study also reveals that the need for satisfaction is what fuels the engine of consumption and this need grows at a rate even more exponential than the number of human bodies on the planet. If human bodies are the same, why does the base level of subsistence for a person living 100 yrs ago not suffice for man today? Truth is, the desire for more is what’s grown and it’s exhausted the capacity for current forms fulfillment but just doesn’t know it yet. So it answers its deficiency by consuming more to no satisfying end and calling it “need”. Social norms and media also define what we “need”. Restructure those, expand education to include socio-global dynamics at all rungs, and we just might find ourselves adequately supplied by nature and at the threshold of a new, more socially advanced direction in human development.