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Population explosion poses challenge to global development goals - UN adviser

Population explosion poses challenge to global development goals - UN adviser

Secretary-General Kofi Annan's Special Adviser on the United Nations Millennium Development Goals, Jeffrey Sachs, today said the current unprecedented population explosion is one of the greatest challenges the world faces in achieving sustainable development.

"Success in population policy will translate into success in many other areas we care about," Mr. Sachs said in the Rafael Salas Memorial Lecture at UN Headquarters in New York. The lecture series was initiated in 1989 in tribute to Mr. Salas, who headed the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) from its creation until his death in 1987.

According to Mr. Sachs, countries with high fertility and mortality are often stuck in extreme poverty. Speeding transition in those countries to low mortality and fertility rates should be a central pillar of their development strategies if they are to meet the Millennium Development Goals - a set of time-bound and measurable goals endorsed by all UN Member States in September 2000.

Mr. Sachs also said that bringing about this change was not an unattainable ambition but "a dynamic process that has shown remarkable success under UN leadership." There is broad-based evidence, according to the Special Adviser, on how best to speed the demographic transition with basic components, such as the extension of reproductive health and family planning services to the entire population, including the poorest families, and the empowerment of women in school, politics and the labour force.