Triumph or threat? The birth of a baby boy in Yugoslavia is cause for celebration and concern.

Triumph or threat?

The birth of a baby boy in Yugoslavia is cause for celebration and concern

Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar took tiny Matej Gaspar in his arms a few minutes after he was born and proclaimed him the five billionth person on the planet. It was a fine Saturday morning in Zagreb, Yugoslavia, capital of the Croatian Republic. Matej was born at 8:25 a.m. on 11 July 1987.

The healthy, blond, 7 pound, 9 ounce boy is the second child of Sanja and Dragutin Gaspar. Matej's mother is a nurse, his father an electrician.

"You should be thankful that your son has been born in prosperity', the Secretary-General said to the smiling 23-year old mother while flashbulbs popped and more than 150 journalists from all over the world jostled to cover the scene. He noted that 9 out of 10 children in the world were born in developing countries.

That evening, the Secretary-General and Dr. Nafis Sadik, Executive Director of the United Nations Fund for Population Activities, who accompanied him on his visit, received a standing ovation as they entered a massive indoor stadium where the Day of the Five Billion was being observed.

Along with President Mojsov, the President of the Croation Republic, the Mayor of Zagreb and 7,000 other people, they listened to Beethoven's Ninth Symphony conducted by Lorin Maazel.

As a large chorus sang the electrifying "Ode to Joy', the challenge to humanity symbolized by Matej's birth was on the mind of many there and elsewhere in the world.

Photo: Secretary-General Perez de Cuellar (second from right), with UNFPA Executive Director Sadik at the right, welcomes new-born Matej Gaspar to the world of 5 billion.