Population

 

Introduction & Overview

introduction
introduction & overview of the issue

overviews & key resources
overview factsheets, key websites & resources


In-depth Resource Guide

articles & literature
articles, documents, factsheets, reports & publications

organizations & websites
organizations, programs, and other informational websites
introduction  The world’s human population currently numbers about 6.1 billion people, and the figure grows by nearly 90 million people each year. This growing global population affects the welfare of communities and ecosystems around the world. A very small proportion of the population consumes the majority of the world's resources. The richest fifth consumes 86% of all goods and services and produces 53% of all carbon dioxide emissions, while the poorest fifth consumes 1.3% of goods and services and accounts for 3% of C02 output. Women in most countries are still having more than the two-child average consistent with a stable population size. Nearly 230 million women worldwide are still in need of effective family planning methods so they can space their children or limit the size of their families. Every minute, another woman dies needlessly in the agony of childbirth - 500,000 easily preventable deaths a year. More than 50 per cent of women in some countries report that they would have preferred to postpone or avoid their most recent birth. And more than 50 million of the 190 million women who become pregnant each year have abortions. Many of these are clandestine and performed under unsafe conditions.