PRESS BRIEFING ON UN POPULATION FUND'S 2001 WORLD POPULATION REPORT

At a Headquarters press briefing this morning, the Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), Thoraya Obaid, announced the launching of the UNFPA State of the World Population 2001 report, Footprints and Milestone.  Ms. Obaid was introduced by Abubakar Dungus, who told corespondents the report had been launched in 20 developed countries and 70 developing countries.

Ms. Obaid said that next year, on the tenth anniversary of the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development -- "Earth Summit" -- there would be a major conference in Johannesburg to review progress towards sustainable development and international equity.  The Population report analysed the agreements of the last decade, the impact of human activity on the planet, pointed out trends and indicated some priorities for the future.

In the last 70 years, she added, world population had tripled, but water use had increased sixfold.  In the last century, world population had quadrupled, but carbon dioxide emissions had increased twelvefold.  The world’s wealth was some $30 trillion, but half of the world lived on $2 a day or less.  The report looked closely at those relationships and considered appropriate responses.

She said the actions agreed on during the conferences of the 1990s, starting with the Earth Summit, had agreed that universal education and health care, and movement towards gender equality, were among the essential first steps for environmental and sustainable development.  The report documented that and explored what it meant for policy, now and in the future.  It also showed how unbalanced consumption harmed the environment and how environmental destruction had a disproportionate impact on the poor.  It described how the scramble to escape from poverty could damage natural resources and local environments and how rapid urban growth, new industries, and the fight to increase exports could damage long-term development prospects, unless countries made specific attempts to limit their impact.

The report noted that global population is growing by 75 million people a year and that nearly all of that growth was in the countries least equipped to deal with it, she continued.  The population of the least developed countries would grow from its current 668 million to 1.86 billion by 2050.  The report showed that poverty and rapid population growth were a deadly combination, and poor people drew directly on natural resources, such as available land, wood and water.  Such practices became unsustainable when there was rapid population growth and an absence of appropriate policies and technology.  The UNFPA advocated action to improve clean and efficient technologies and make it available to developing countries.  It also advocated balanced and integrated population policies.

She emphasized that successful population and development policy started with simple interventions, such as universal education and primary health care, including high-quality reproductive health services.  They also included greater visibility for the roles of women in respect to the environment, and specific actions to empower women and move towards gender equality. They were not a cure-all, but they would contribute to better

management of the environment.  Industrialized countries had committed themselves to providing one third of the resources required to implement the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) Programme of Action, but the commitment made in 1994 had not been met.  Political will and the tenacity to stay the course were needed.  Good reproductive health was part of the mix for sustainable development.

In response to a question about whether AIDS had reduced population growth, she gave the example of Botswana, where the HIV/AIIDS rate was about 35 per cent, but the population growth was about 37 per cent.  In that case, AIDS had not reduced the growth rate.  That could change if the fertility rate decreased and the HIV rate increased.  It was expected that in the next several years, the population growth would be highest in those poorest countries.

Mr. Dungus added that the population in the least developed countries would virtually triple.

Asked to discuss the relationship between population and development in Eastern and Central Europe, Ms. Obaid said that Eastern Europe had its own particular problems.  For the most part, they did not have high fertility rates.  The problem was one of healthy reproduction.  In Russia, for example, men died at an early age.  HIV/AIDS was becoming a serious problem.  The abortion rate was high.  When different family planning methods were introduced, abortions went down, but in a declining economy people could not afford to buy those services, and the abortion rate thus went back up.

Those factors, she added, combined with the use of drugs, meant that human security and development were being threatened.  The other serious issue in those countries was the triangle of drugs, AIDS and trafficking in women. That dangerous combination was making the problems of drugs and AIDS more serious in the region and threatening the population.

Mr. Dungus called attention to the report, which he said spelled out regional trends and developments.

A correspondent stated that economic development and more gender equality could help reduce the rate of population growth, but it also extended life spans. That phenomenon had occurred in Mexico, and created a problem in and of itself.  Ms. Obaid said the developed countries were already faced with the problem of an ageing population, and the developing countries were beginning to face it.  As the number of older people increased, it became more difficult for the younger people to support them. The trend now was to look at and learn from the experience of the developed countries, to see how they dealt with ageing and low fertility rates.  Right now, the world had the largest young population in the history of human beings.  They would constitute the largest ageing population when they grew up.

Mr. Dungus said that the UNFPA and other organizations had met in Malta last week on what lessons could be learned.  UNFPA technical people were available to provide correspondents with information about some of the ideas being considered.

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