Population Commission recommends continued monitoring of world population trends and policies.

Population Commission recommends continued monitoring of world population trends and policies

The Population Commission at its24th session (New York, 28 January-6 February) recommended continued vigorous monitoring world population trends and policies and to prepare the review and appraisal of the World Population Plan of Action adopted by the World Population Conference at Bucharest in 1974.

It did so in approving by consensustwo resolutions for adoption by its parent body, the Economic and Social Council. The 27-member Commission, which was mandated after the Bucharest Conference to monitor population trends and policies, normally meets every two years.

The Commission also asked for continuedand strengthened interdisciplinary technical co-operation activities in training in demography, evaluation and analysis of basic population data, formulation and integration of population policy in development planning, as well as for continued analysis, evaluation and publication of the experience of technical co-operation activities in the field.

In a text on follow-up to recommendationsof the International Conference on Population (August 1984, Mexico City), the Council would request the Secretary-General to regularly prepare reports on the activities of the United Nations system in the population field, on the work of intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations in implementing the 1974 World Population Plan of Action and on the monitoring of multilateral population assistance.

The Executive Director of theUnited Nations Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA) would also be asked to continue to report to the Commission on Fund activities.

The Commission decided provisionallyit would consider in 1989 action to implement the 1974 World Population Conference recommendations, including convening an intergovernmental conference on population in 1994; a 1990-1991 programme of work in the field of population; implementation of the programme budget for 1988-1989; and follow-up on the recommendations of the 1984 International Conference on Population.

The Commission decided to hold alengthy substantive discussion in 1989 on the Secretary-General's report on population trends and policies, focusing on a specific topic such as changes in population structure including the aging of populations.

85-90 million a year

Rafeeuddin Ahmed, Under-Secretary-Generalfor International Economic and Social Affairs, told the Commission on 28 January that for many countries, population growth remained a matter of central concern. Humanity would continue to increase by some 85 million to 90 million persons each year throughout the remainder of this century.

Mortality, he said, remained unacceptablyhigh in some regions, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, and there was now a gap of as much as 35 years in life expectancy between countries with high and low mortality rates.

Fertility level and patterns haddeclined dramatically in recent years in some developed and developing countries, yet remained at historically unprecedented high levels in others, the latter to be found especially in Africa, where women bore an average of 6.5 children in the course of their life.

Rafael M. Salas, UNFPA ExecutiveDirector, noted that some time in the middle of 1987, the world's population was expected to reach 5 billion. Saturday, 11 July, had been designated as a reference date for "The Day of Five Billion'.

The Fund over the years hadprovided more than $1.5 billion to nearly 150 countries for support for family planning and related activities; population information, education and communications programmes; data collection and analysis; establishment of research institutes; and formulation and implementation of population policies.

In 1987, the Fund had begun itswork without the financial support of the United States, but as a result of higher contributions from other donors, and an appreciation of the value of the dollar, its income in 1987 was expected to be $145 million--the highest in its 20-year history. He added that negotiations would continue with the United States on its position.

[A tribute to Mr. Salas, who diedsuddenly in Washington, D.C. on 3 March, appears on page 88.]

7 billion by 2010

In 1974, the world's populationnumbered 4 billion; 13 years later, in mid-1987, it is expected to surpass 5 billion. By comparison, it took about 35 years to grow from 2 billion in the middle of the 1920s to 3 billion in 1960, and more than a century to grow from 1 billion to 2 billion.

Those and other population trendsand policies are monitored in a report of the Secretary-General on the subject (E/1987/3). He stated that the current rapid pace of population growth is unlikely to abate soon, and that the world's population will reach 6 billion by 1999 and will exceed 7 billion by 2010. After that, the number of years needed to add another billion is expected to increase more gradually.

In 1986, nearly half of the 170United Nations Member States and observer nations viewed their rates of population growth as satisfactory, he went on, with 37 per cent considering their rate too high and 16 per cent as too low. In recent years, increasing proportions of the world's population resided in countries that viewed their rates of population growth as too high.

Not a single developed country perceivedits growth rate as too high, the Secretary-General stated. In contrast, nearly 50 per cent of the developing countries--where 62 per cent of the total population of the developing regions live--viewed their rates of population growth as too high. The social and economic consequences of relatively high and increasing proportions of aged persons are also primary concerns, predominantly among the developed countries.

The Secretary-General alsoreported (E/CN.9/1987/3) on the progress of work in the population field for 1985-1986 by the Department of International Economic and Social Affairs (DIESA). The Population Information Network (POPIN) project and the establishment of the global POPIN Co-ordinating Unit had had significant impact on world-wide population information activities, he said.

The UNFPA Executive Directorreported (E/CN.9/1987/5) on Fund activities in such fields as family planning, communication and education, basic data collection and population dynamics. From 1969-1985, the Fund had provided more than $565 million to various family-planning activities.

Photo: Sergio M. Thompson-Flores of Brazil (left), Chairman of thePopulation Commission, with Valeri Yudin, a United Nations staff member.