Editor's Note, December 2024

I made a mistake in the last issue of the magazine when I wrote that the United Nations Pact for the Future was an agreement that was meant to succeed the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) after their 2030 end date. Rather, the Pact is intended to reinvigorate UN member states and other stakeholders in their commitment to achieving the SDGs between now and 2030.

The final version of the Pact was approved at the Summit of the Future in late September, and I am very pleased to report that after delivering two oral statements and several rounds of comments on drafts of the document, we and our colleagues at Population Matters and Population Media Center were successful at convincing the authors to add a commitment related to population issues:

Commitment 20: Strengthen cooperation among States in their response to demographic trends and realities, such as rapid population growth, declining birth rates, and aging populations, as well as in addressing the interlinkages between population issues and development across all regions, taking into account the needs and interests of present and future generations, including children and youth, and the substantial contributions of older persons to sustainable development efforts.

The first three versions of the Pact included no mention of population growth, so we feel like we really accomplished something here!

As Population Connection members well know, none of the SDGs are attainable without addressing rapid population growth in the poorest regions of the world. According to the new flagship publication of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), over 20% of people in Africa are facing hunger, and the number of chronically hungry people around the world has been increasing since 2019. Meanwhile, the new Living Planet Report from the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) finds that between 1970 and 2020, wildlife populations of vertebrate species plummeted by 73%, primarily because of habitat loss, largely driven by agricultural expansion.

In this issue, you’ll read about locally managed programs in Indonesia and Guatemala that bring patient-centered reproductive health care to women in rural and/or marginalized settings. It’s only through locally led outreach efforts and quality clinical services patients trust that birth rates will voluntarily come down and population will approach stabilization. We’re proud to support such initiatives through our Global Partners program, and we thank you for being the reason we can do so year after year.

Time is running short to achieve the SDGs, and without slowing population growth, we can’t expect to succeed. Ambitious investment in international family planning — now! — is crucial to making our best attempt.

Email Marian: mstarkey@popconnect.org

Clarification: In the September Pop Facts infographic, Belgrade, Serbia, was identified as the location of the1965 World Population Conference. At the time, the Republic of Serbia was part of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.