In the twentieth century, world population nearly quadrupled, and population numbers in many cities and countries multiplied at an even faster pace. Even today, with birth rates coming down around the world, the populations of many countries are expected to double again in just two to three decades.

On one hand, these trends are cause for celebration, reflecting the remarkable public health advances over the past half-century that dramatically increased life expectancies around the world. On the other hand, large and growing populations present societies with social and environmental challenges that are gaining momentum on a scale previously unknown in human history. All of these challenges also warrant unprecedented international cooperation.

As the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) points out, "it took all of time for world population to reach 2 billion in 1927-then less than a lifetime to arrive at 6 billion." World population is growing slightly more slowly than in the 1990's, but we are still adding some 78 million people every year, with almost all of that growth occurring in developing countries already struggling to meet the needs of their current populations. Current estimates project that world population will reach 9 billion around 2050.

In another twentieth century phenomenon, consumption rates skyrocketed in the world's wealthy nations. For example in the United States, population numbers have tripled in the 20th century, but consumption rates multiplied as many as 17 times. As environmental reporter Don Hinrichsen writes, "the world's one billion richest people-which include Europeans and Japanese - consume 80 percent of the Earth's resources." Therefore, he adds, "the other five billion people on Earth make do with just 20 percent of the planet's resources."

Women and Education: The Keys to Success

Improving the status, education, and health of women is an essential key to social and economic development in all societies, improving lives and strengthening families and communities. In addition, women's empowerment is central to efforts to slow population growth rates. In 1994, 179 countries attending the United Nations International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo agreed to encourage women's equality and full participation in society by improving access to health and education, adopting appropriate policy measures, and facilitating economic opportunities.

Education is a key issue for promoting women's health and empowerment around the world. More educated women tend to delay marriage as well as pregnancy, thus reducing the number of children they bear. In addition, educated women tend to have better access to information and resources for family planning and reproductive health and for ensuring their children's health. Women with at least seven years of schooling bear two to three less children on average than woman with little or no schooling at all.

Beyond promoting health and helping to reduce population growth rates, family planning and reproductive health are critical to reducing maternal mortality rates as well. Promoting access to information and services that can help women avoid unwanted pregnancies and abortion as well as improving access to medical care during and after pregnancy can significantly reduce maternal deaths. About 600,000 women die each year from difficulties related to childbirth, pregnancy and abortion. "Safe Motherhood" is a goal worthy of our best efforts and should be high on the agenda of policy makers throughout the world.

Young People: The Key to the Future

Another important aspect of current world population and development trends is known as "age structure." According to the United Nations, "the growth in size of the world population is matched by the unparalleled shift in the age structure." Currently, there are approximately 2 billion people around the world under age 15 and another 1 billion between the ages of 15 and 24. It is because of this youthful age structure that even small changes in average fertility rates can have profound implications for absolute population numbers. If couples uniformly delay marriage and birth of their first child by five years, demographers say, the population in 2050 would be two billion less than if they had not waited.

It should also be noted that, besides this large youthful component of today's global population, the number of elderly around the world is also beginning to rise significantly. By 2050, the percentage of the world's population over the age of 60 is expected to rise from 10 percent to 22 percent. This changing age structure of the population will to present many challenges to health and other social services, particularly for women, who make up the majority of the elderly population in most countries.

Opportunities and Recommendations

1. Muster the political will of governments to keep the promises they made at a series of nine global UN conferences in the 1990's on social and economic development challenges and to provide the resources necessary to implement the plans of action they drafted and approved.

2. Recognize the unique role that women play in the health of their families, the advancement of their communities, and the development of their nations. Fully support the family planning and reproductive health services that help women to realize their full potential through education and economic advancement.

3. Support the special needs of young people to have access to services that help them delay marriage and childbearing until they are physically, emotionally, and educationally prepared for parenthood.

4. Provide economic development opportunities that end discrimination and promote the full participation of women, as equal partners, in all development programs.

5. Recognize the role of NGOs in the implementation of global plans of action and seek to involve them more fully in the policy development process.

6. Increase the capacity of NGOs to carry out their important role as advocates for social and economic initiatives and programs aimed at reducing poverty and fostering solidarity by serving as a vital link to the UN's global constituency.