This document discusses how population growth relates to achieving the United Nations Millennium Development Goals. It argues that population growth in developing nations makes achieving the goals of reducing poverty and hunger by 2015 very difficult. Providing access to reproductive healthcare and education for women are seen as crucial steps to slow population growth and allow the goals to be met. The conclusion restates that the goals of the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development, such as universal access to education and reproductive healthcare, must be achieved in order to both eradicate poverty and accomplish the Millennium Development Goals.

1. United Nations Millennium Development Goals & Population Presentation by Deniz Susar SOGA 6506 - Population Processes and Development Issues Prof. Donald Heisel Fall, 2008 Fordham University

2. 1. Background 2. MDGs & Population 3. Conclusion

3. Background

4. International Conference on Population & Development (ICPD) Cairo 1994 179 countries approved a Programme of Action that recommended a set of interdependent goals & objectives: universal access to education, with special attention to closing the gender gap in primary and secondary education universal access to primary health care universal access to a full range of comprehensive reproductive health care services, including family planning reductions in infant, child and maternal morbidity and mortality increased life expectancy

5. Millennium Development Goals

6. Population is directly related to:

7. and indirectly related to:

8. “ The Millennium Development Goals, particularly the eradication of extreme poverty and hunger, cannot be achieved if questions of population and reproductive health are not squarely addressed . And that means stronger efforts to promote women’s rights, and greater investment in education and health, including reproductive health and family planning.” UN Secretary-General Kofi A. Annan, Message to the Fifth Asian and Pacific Population Conference, Bangkok, 16 December 2002

9. Countries greatest levels of poverty greatest need to achieve MDGs Have high birth rates rapidly growing population

10. World Population Growth 1750-2150

11. Developing Countries – National Family Planning Programmes - Trend I Rapid decline in the birth rate Improvement in the economy, Health of women & their families Autonomy, education, status of women Countries where information & contraceptives are available

12. Developing Countries – National Family Planning Programmes – Trend II No decline in the birth rate Explosive growth of urban slums Failure of the state to keep pace with educational demands Continuing oppression of women Countries where many pregnancies remain unwanted

13. The evidence is overwhelming the MDGs are difficult or impossible to achieve with the current levels of population growth in the least developed countries and regions

14. The UN has approved a new MDG target in 2008 Target 1: Reduce by three quarters the maternal mortality ratio Target 2: Achieve universal access to reproductive health

15. MDGs & Population

16. Target 1: Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people whose income is less than $1 a day Target 2: Achieve full and productive employment and decent work for all, including women and young people Target 3: Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people who suffer from hunger Target 1 The rapid pace of population growth in much of Africa and some other parts of the world means, despite global efforts, we are not even succeeding in keeping the numbers living in extreme poverty stable Target 3 No guarantee that food production will keep pace with the addition of the next three billion people in the first half of the twenty-first century

17. Target: Ensure that, by 2015, children everywhere, boys and girls alike, will be able to complete a full course of primary schooling Number of school age children doubles every 20 years Extra 2 million teachers/year required just to stand still High population growth continues

18. Target: Eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education, preferably by 2005, and in all levels of education no later than 2015 The ability of women to control their own fertility is absolutely fundamental to women’s empowerment and equality

19. Maternal Deaths Childhood Mortality Adolescent Pregnancy

20. Target: Reduce by two thirds, between 1990 and 2015, the under-five mortality rate HIGH FERTILITY REDUCED ACCESS TO SAFE DRINKING WATER MAJOR CASUSES

21. Target 1: Reduce by three quarters the maternal mortality ratio Target 2: Achieve universal access to reproductive health Every minute a woman dies in pregnancy or childbirth, over 500,000 every year Maternal mortality is the largest health inequity in the world; 99 per cent of maternal deaths occur in developing countries — half of them in Africa A woman in Niger faces a 1 in 7 chance during her lifetime of dying of pregnancy–related causes, while a woman in Sweden has 1 chance in 17,400

22. An unmet need for family planning undermines achievement of several other goals Reducing Child Mortality Hunger and Malnutrition Primary Education Enrollment

23. Target 1: Have halted by 2015 and begun to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS Target 2: Achieve, by 2010, universal access to treatment for HIV/AIDS for all those who need it Target 3: Have halted by 2015 and begun to reverse the incidence of malaria and other major diseases Population growth has a negative impact on gaining control over the spread of HIV/AIDS through two main routes: Increased urbanization Persistence of poverty

24. Target 1: Integrate the principles of sustainable development into country policies and programmes and reverse the loss of environmental resources Target 2: Reduce biodiversity loss, achieving, by 2010, a significant reduction in the rate of loss Target 3: Halve, by 2015, the proportion of the population without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation Target 4: By 2020, to have achieved a significant improvement in the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers As population grows, 2/3 of world population will face moderate to high water shortages by 2025 By 2007, half the world’s population will live in towns and cities

25. Target 1: Address the special needs of least developed countries, landlocked countries and small island developing states Target 2: Develop further an open, rule-based, predictable, non-discriminatory trading and financial system Target 3: Deal comprehensively with developing countries’ debt Target 4: In cooperation with pharmaceutical companies, provide access to affordable essential drugs in developing countries Target 5: In cooperation with the private sector, make available benefits of new technologies, especially information and communications

26. Conclusion

27. Conclusion 2.Demographic Dividend 3.Economic Progress 1.Slower Population Growth 4.Invest in Education & Health

28. Conclusion Governments should “meet the family planning needs of their populations as soon as possible and should, in all cases by the year 2015, seek to provide universal access to a full range of safe and reliable family-planning methods…” International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) Programme of Action para 7.16

29. Conclusion Poverty cannot and will not be eradicated without achieving ICPD goals Universal access to education and reproductive health care are crucial steps that can help to eradicate poverty Meeting these ICPD goals will pave a straight road directly toward reaching the MDGs

30. Questions ? Slide is available at: http://www.slideshare.net/denizsusar/millenium-development-goals-population-presentation/ [email_address]