John R Wilmoth
Mr. John R. Wilmoth, Director of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs’ Population Division at the UN, recently published a major report on the “Global Population Growth and Sustainable Development” that probes the linkages between global population growth and the social, economic and environmental dimensions of sustainable development. Mr. Wilmoth expanded on some of the findings as to how rapid population growth is a common feature of the demographic transition and it is both a sign of success and a challenge to be met; global population is expected to continue to grow rapidly over the next few decades; access to reproductive health-care services and a declining fertility rate can accelerate social and economic development; higher incomes contribute more to environmental degradation than population growth; developing countries need help in confronting climate change and food systems will be transformed to feed a growing population and limit environmental damage.
