7 billion, and climbing
With the world’s population poised to pass an estimated 7 billion later this month, the executive director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) said Wednesday that it is critically important to step up efforts to educate girls and engage young people. Babatunde Osotimehin, who was named UNFPA executive director in January, said that problems stemming from population growth are actually issues of consumption, distribution, and equity, not necessarily intrinsic to the number of people alone. Though the population is expected to surpass 7 billion on Oct. 31, Osotimehin said that all of those people, if standing shoulder to shoulder, could fit within the confines of Los Angeles. If an effort is made to ensure that a young man raised in fast-growing Tanzania gets a good education, understands the importance of the environment, and lives sustainably, that may create a different global future than if that same man were raised to want...