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World's population poses problem, expert tells group

Posted on: Monday, 29 March 2004, 06:00 CST

The dramatic growth of the world's population has significant health and economic consequences, the president of the Population Institute said.

Speaking to the Charleston Rotary Club on Friday Werner Fornos said that it took until 1830 for the world's population to reach one billion people. By 1930 the world's population reached two billion people and had gone to three billion by 1960.

In 1975 the world's population topped four billion people and by 1987 it had topped five billion, Fornos said.

In 2000 the world went over the six billion population mark, and today the world's population stands at 6.4 billion, Fornos said. The population increases by about 80 million people a year, Fornos said.

Nearly 98 percent of the increase in the world's population occurs in the developing countries of Africa, Asia and South America, he said.

The increase in population outpaces the economic opportunities available in most regions, Fornos said, with many people in parts of the world surviving on less than $1 a day.

Based in Washington D.C., the Population Institute tracks the world's population growth and works to increase awareness of the problems associated with this growth. In addition the Institute undertakes various programs to increase educational attainment levels in developing countries and promote responsible methods of birth control, he said.

Fornos said that 400 million women a year did not want their last pregnancy, nor do they want another. Promoting educational attainment among women has the effect of decreasing unwanted or unintended pregnancy, Fornos said.

For more information about the Population Institute visit the group's Web site at www.populationinstitute.org.

Writer Jack Bailey can be reached at 348-4841 or by e-mail at jbailey@dailymail.com.

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