Supporting Adolescents and Youth
More than 1.5 billion people are between the ages of 10 and 25. This largest-ever generation of adolescents is approaching adulthood in a world their elders could not have imagined. Globalization, the AIDS pandemic, electronic communications and a changing climate have irrevocably shifted the landscape.
The scenario is mixed. As young people share ideas, values, music and symbols through mass media and electronic technology, a global youth culture has emerged. Many young people are organizing and networking themselves in both formal and informal ways.
But more than half live in poverty, on less than $2 per day. Often they lack access to the technology and information. Many also face social inequality, poor schools, gender discrimination, unemployment and inadequate health systems. They deserve better. And investing in them is an investment in the future leaders of families, communities and nations.
UNFPA promotes and protects the rights of young people. It envisions a world in which girls and boys have optimal opportunities to develop their full potential, to freely express themselves and have their views respected, and to live free of poverty, discrimination and violence.
Linking Population, Poverty and Development
UNFPAs work on population is central to the goals of the international community to eradicate poverty and achieve sustainable development.
Population dynamics, including growth rates, age structure, fertility and mortality, migration and more, influence every aspect of human, social and economic development. Other core areas of UNFPAs work --including reproductive health and women's empowerment -- powerfully influence population trends.
Governments need to be able to gather information about, track and analyse population trends in order to create and manage sound policies and generate the political will to appropriately address both current and future needs. UNFPA assists countries in every aspect of this, as needed, from developing capacity in data collection and analysis to participating in national, regional and global policy dialogue to supporting demonstrative programmes for purpose of upscaling.
Linking Population, Poverty and Development
Reducing Poverty and Achieving Sustainable Development
At the 2005 World Summit, the international community reaffirmed its committment to cut in half the number of people living in extreme poverty by 2015 and achieve the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), a series of time-bound and quantified targets to attack poverty's root causes in a multi-dimensional way.
The scale of the challenges, and the benefits of success to individuals, communities and the family of nation, are enormous: Global population is expected to increase from 6.5 billion today to 9.1 billion by 2050, and the population of the 50 poorest countries will more than double to reach 1.7 billion. Almost all of the net increase in population is occurring in the urban areas developing countries, and in many of them, the number of people living in poverty is rising.
Moreover, the supportive development environment that prevailed in the early years of this decade is now threatened as the world faces a global economic slowdown and a food secuirty crisis. At the same time, the effects of climate change are becoming more apparent.
Dimensions of poverty
Substantial evidence suggests that slower population growth and investments in reproductive health and HIV prevention (particularly among adolescents), education, women's empowerment and gender equality reduce poverty. Carrying out the Programme of Action adopted at the International Conference Population and Development (ICPD) in Cairo and reaching its goal of universal access to reproductive health information and services by 2015 is an essential condition for achieving the MDGs.
A central premise of the ICPD is that the size, growth, age structure and rural-urban distribution of a country's population have a critical impact on its development prospects and on the living standards of the poor. Poverty is multidimensional: impoverished people are deprived of services, resources and opportunities, as well as income. The ICPD realized that investing in people -- and empowering individual women and men with education, equal opportunities and the means to determine the number, timing and spacing of their children --could create the conditions to allow the poor to break out of the poverty trap.
Critical investments for poverty reduction
The countries in which poverty levels are the highest are generally those that have the most rapid increases in population and the highest fertility levels. Countries that have reduced fertility and mortality by investing in universal health care, including reproductive health, as well as education and gender equality, have made economic gains. A 2001 study of 45 countries, for example, found that if they had reduced fertility by five births per 1,000 people in the 1980s, the average national incidence of poverty of 18.9 per cent in the mid-1980s would have been reduced to 12.6 per cent between 1990 and 1995.
How do investments in reproductive health, eduction and gender equality reduce poverty?
* Enabling people to have fewer children contributes to upward mobility and helps to stimulate development. When women can negotiate their reproductive health decisions with men, this exercise of their rights leads to an increased decision-making role within families and communities that benefits all.
* Because smaller families share income among fewer people, average per-capita income increases.
* Fewer pregnancies lead to lower maternal mortality and morbidity and often to more education and economic opportunities for women. These, in turn, can lead to higher family income.
* As women become more educated, they tend to have fewer children, and participate more fully in the labour market.
*Families with lower fertility are better able to invest in the health and education of each child. Spaced births and fewer pregnancies overall improve child survival.
* Sexual and reproductive health services are key to curbing HIV. The pandemic is killing large numbers of people in their most productive years, increasing the ratio of dependents to the working-age population. Preventing AIDS-related disabilities and premature deaths translates into a healthier, more productive labour force that can improve a countrys economic prospects
* Many developing countries have large youth populations. Reproductive health programmes that address the greater vulnerability of adolescents to unprotected sex, sexual coercion, HIV and other sexually transmitted infections, unintended early pregnancies and unsafe abortions, and enable young women to delay pregnancy and marriage are important factors in breaking the intergenerational cycle of poverty.
* Investments in reproductive health, particularly in family planning, that result in lowered fertility can open a one-time only 'demographic window' of economic opportunity.
The demographic window Lower fertility and slower population growth temporarily increase the relative size of the workforce, opening an historic, one-time only demographic window. With fewer dependent children and older dependents relative to a larger, healthier working-age population, countries can make additional investments that can spur economic growth and help reduce poverty. Within another generation, the window closes again, as the population ages and dependency increases once more. If jobs are generated for the working population, this demographic bonus results in higher productivity, savings and growth. In East Asia, where poverty has dropped dramatically, this demographic bonus is estimated to account for about one third of the regions unprecedented economic growth from 1965 to 1990. In the poorest countries, where fertility remains high, the demographic window will not open for some time, but investments now in reproductive health services can hasten its arrival and ensure future dividends.
Linking Population, Poverty and Development
Rapid Growth in Less Developed Regions
We are living in a world of unprecedented demographic change. After growing very slowly for most of human history, the world's population more than doubled in the last half century to reach 6 billion in late 1999. By 2006 it had reached 6.7 billion. Lower mortality, longer life expectancy and a youthful population in countries where fertility remains high all contributed to the rapid population growth of recent decades.
According to the 2008 Revision, the world population is expected to rise by 2.53 billion people, to reach a total of 9.1 billion in 2050. The increase alone is close to the total world population in 1950. Essentially all of the growth will take place in the less developed countries, and will be concentrated among the poorest populations in urban areas.
By contrast, the overall population of the more developed countries is likely to show little change over the next 41 years, remaining at about 1.2 billion. Fertility is below replacement level (2.1 children per woman) in all 45 developed countries or areas, as well as in 28 developing countries including China. The population of developed regions is ageing and would actually decline were it not for migration. The populations of Germany, Italy, Japan and most of the successor states of the former Soviet Union are expected to be lower in 2050 than they are today.
Projections dependent on continued declines in fertility
Fertility in the less developed countries as a whole is projected to decline from 2.75 children per woman in 2005-2010 to 2.05 in 2045-2050. The decline in the group of the 50 least developed countries is expected to be even sharper: from 4.63 children to 2.50 children per woman. However, realization of these projections is contingent on continued declines in fertility, even as funding for family planning has been declining.
Clearly, most people want and are having smaller families than in the past. This trend has been greatly helped by the wider availability of high quality, safe and affordable family planning services. Still, many people are having more children than they want to. Some 200 million women who would like to use contraceptives lack access to them.
Achieving the predicted projections will require expanded access to family planning, especially in the poorest countries. The urgency of this is clear: If fertility were to remain at current levels, the population would increase to 11 billion, with less developed nations' populations rising to 9.8 billion instead of the 7.9 billion that is projected. Even if fertility rates are lower than projected, the large proportion of young people still makes population growth until 2050 virtually inevitable.
Projected growth linked to sustained progress in HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment
The projected population trends also depend on achieving a major increase in the proportion of AIDS patients who get anti-retroviral therapy to treat the disease and on the success of efforts to control the further spread of HIV. In the 2008 Revision, the impact of the epidemic was modeled in 58 countries where adult HIV prevalence reached 1 per cent or higher at some point during 1980-2007 or where the number ofpeople living with HIV/AIDS was at least half a million in 2007. Among those 58 countries, 38 are in Africa and 15 had an adult HIV prevalence of at least 5 per cent in 2007.
Linking Population, Poverty and Development
Population Ageing: A Larger and Older Population
The world's population is not only growing larger, it is also becoming older. Population ageing is an inevitable consequence of fertility decline, especially if it is combined with increases in life expectancy. The proportion of older persons is increasing at a faster rate than any other age segment. In developed countries, the proportion of older people already exceeds that of children. In developing countries, proportion of older people is increasing rapidly due to the faster pace of fertility decline that has resulted from the success of reproductive health and family planning programmes.
According to the UN Population Division, during the next 45 years, the number of persons in the world aged 60 years or older is expected to almost triple, increasing from 672 million people in 2005 to nearly 1.9 billion by 2050. Today 60 per cent of older persons live in developing countries; by 2050, that proportion will increase to 80 per cent.
In developed countries, one fifth of the population is 60 years or older; by 2050, that proportion is expected to rise to almost a third, and there will be two elderly persons for every child. In developing countries, the proportion of the older population is expected to rise from 10 per cent in 2005 to close to 20 per cent by 2050.
There will be an even more notable increase in the number of 'oldest-old' people, those who are 80 years old or over, from 86 million in 2005 to 394 million in 2050. By 2050, most oldest-old people will live in the developing world. In almost all societies, women represent the largest number and proportion of older people.
A key indicator of population ageing is the median age (the age at which 50 per cent of the population is older and 50 per cent younger). Today, just 11 developed countries have a median age of over 40. But by 2050, 90 countries will fall into that group, 46 of them in the developing world.
Policy guidelines on ageing
Effectively responding to older persons needs, expectations and rights includes:
* Focus on the older poor, in development and poverty-reduction strategies
* Examine the economic, social and cultural implications of population and demographic changes, and how they relate to development concerns
* Promote and implement adequate policies and programmes for active ageing, including life-long education and training, and the full participation of older persons in community life
* Recognize and support the care-giving services provided by grandparents, especially women, to grandchildren orphaned by AIDS
* Eliminate discrimination, financial, psychological and physical abuse and other crimes against older persons, especially women, including intergenerational violence
* Promote intergenerational solidarity with the goal of maintaining and improving social cohesion
UNFPA at work
In the area of population ageing, UNFPA aims to influence public policy and promote policy dialogue to respond to the challenges posed by the social, health and economic consequences of population ageing and to meet the needs of older persons, with particular emphasis on the poor, especially women. The
Fund supports training of policymakers and programme planners, assists countries to develop quality data on the number and characteristics of older people and supports research on the social and economic impact of population ageing. UNFPA works in partnership with the UN system and international and national non-governmental organizations.
UNFPA collaborates with the World Health Organization on a study of the policy implications of the health of women aged 50 and over. The report will target primarily policymakers and will contain recommendations that can be used to promote equity and equality for women throughout their lives, prevent marginalization at older ages and ensure that older women remain active contributors to development.
The International Institute on Ageing, United Nations, Malta
The International Institute on Ageing, United Nations Malta (INIA) was established in 1988 by the United Nations and the Government of Malta to provide multidisciplinary education and training for personnel in developing countries on specific areas related to ageing. UNFPA works in close partnership with INIA and financially supports its training programmes. To date, INIA has trained around 3,000 participants from over 125 countries. INIA organizes four annual core courses on Social Gerontology, Economic and Financial Aspects of Ageing, Geriatrics, and Demographic Aspects of Population Ageing, as well as a nine-month Diploma Course and a Masters Degree Course in Gerontology and Geriatric. INIA also is developing Internet-based distance learning programmes in developing countries in collaboration with the University of Malta. Since 1995, it has conducted on-site training programmes in countries around the world, tailored to their specific needs.
Linking Population, Poverty and Development Urbanization:
A Majority in Cities
The world is undergoing the largest wave of urban growth in history. In 2008, for the first time in history, more than half of the world’s population will be living in towns and cities. By 2030 this number will swell to almost 5 billion, with urban growth concentrated in Africa and Asia. While mega-cities have captured much public attention, most of the new growth will occur in smaller towns and cities, which have fewer resources to respond to the magnitude of the change.
In principle, cities offer a more favourable setting for the resolution of social and environmental problems than rural areas. Cities generate jobs and income. With good governance, they can deliver education, health care and other services more efficiently than less densely settled areas simply because of their advantages of scale and proximity.
Cities also present opportunities for social mobilization and women’s empowerment. And the density of urban life can relieve pressure on natural habitats and areas of biodiversity. The challenge for the next few decades is learning how to exploit the possibilities urbanization offers. The future of humanity depends on it.
The pace and scale of urbanization
Urban growth, which is mostly due to natural increase, is inevitable. However, the speed and size of the growth are not fixed, and vary widely among regions. The most effective way to slow rates of urban growth is to reduce unwanted fertility in both rural and urban areas. Lowering poverty, empowering women and providing quality reproductive health services all influence fertility preferences and ability to meet them.
Fertility rates are lower in urban than in rural areas throughout the world. However, the fact that such large percentages of people in many developing countries are young means that urban population growth will continue rapidly for years to come. Moreover, impoverished urban women are significantly less likely than their more affluent counterparts to have access to reproductive health or contraception. Not surprisingly, they have higher fertility rates.
Migration is a significant contributor to urbanization, as people move in search of social and economic opportunity. Environmental degradation and conflict may drive people off the land. Often people who leave the countryside to find better lives in the city have no choice but to settle in shantytowns and slums, where they lack access to decent housing and sanitation, health care and education—in effect, trading in rural for urban poverty.
Urbanization of poverty
Poverty is now growing faster in urban than in rural areas. One billion people live in urban slums, which are typically overcrowded, polluted and dangerous, and lack basic services such as clean water and sanitation.
Although urbanization increasingly concentrates poverty, it also provides possibilities for escaping it. For the most part, rich countries are already urbanized, and most of the expected urban growth will occur in less-developed regions, which have fewer resources for coping with the scale of the change.
In the Millennium Declaration, the international community recognized that to halve by 2015 the proportion of people living in extreme poverty, it will have to directly address the needs of the burgeoning population of poor people living in cities. One of the targets set by world leaders in 2000 was to improve significantly the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers by 2020. Addressing the housing needs of the urban poor will be critical. A roof and an address in a habitable area are the first step to a better life. Improving access to basic social and health services, including reproductive health care, for poor people in urban slums is also critical to breaking the cycle of poverty.
UNFPA at work
UNFPA helps countries to address emerging demographic issues such as urbanization in development and poverty eradication policies, plans and strategies. It assists them to analyse the socio-economic implications of urbanization and to design policies that respond to the needs of diverse demographic groups within cities. The Fund conducts research studies and strengthens national capacity to understand trends and to collect, analyse and use data related to urbanization. The 2007 State of World Population report describes the coming urban transformation and raises an urgent call for policymakers to take proactive measures to unleash the potential it offers.
Educate Girls
Investing in women is a smart choice
No one knows yet what the full scale of this global economic crisis will look like. We do know that women and children in developing countries will bear the brunt of the impact. What started as a financial crisis in rich countries is now deepening into a global economic crisis that is hitting developing countries hard. It is already affecting progress toward reducing poverty.
Policy responses that build on women's roles as economic agents can do a lot to mitigate the effects of the crisis on development, especially because women, more than men, invest their earnings in the health and education of their children. Investments in public health, education, child care and other social services help mitigate the impact of the crisis on the entire family and raise productivity for a healthier economy.
Protect the gains achieved
Investments in education and health for women and girls have been linked to increases in productivity, agricultural yields, and national income — all of which contribute to the achievement of the MDGs. Investments by governments worldwide have raised school enrolment rates, narrowed the gender gap in education, brought life-saving drugs to people living with AIDS, expanded HIV prevention, delivered bed nets to prevent malaria, and improved child health through immunization.
Global Issues
From the suffering of the Second World War emerged a new international meeting place, where the countries and peoples of the world could work together to promote peace and cooperation, economic and social development, and a global society guided by a clear vision, and codified by international law. That meeting place was the United Nations, and the system of related bodies born with and from it, known today as the UN family or UN system.
Over the years, the United Nations system has grappled with those uniquely global problems which cannot be adequately addressed by any one country alone, and which require cooperative efforts. These are the Global Issues on the United Nations Agenda. Here, on this website, we offer an overview of some of these issues, and guide you to places on the World Wide Web where you can gain additional information on each issue. We hope this deepens your knowledge and understanding of these issues, and what the United Nations is doing to address them.
Sources:
http://www.unfpa.org/adolescents/index.htm
http://www.unfpa.org/pds/
http://www.unfpa.org/pds/poverty.html
http://www.unfpa.org/pds/trends.htm
http://www.unfpa.org/pds/ageing.html
http://www.unfpa.org/pds/urbanization.htm
http://www.unfpa.org/wpd/2009/en/
http://www.un.org/en/globalissues/