Editor's Note, September 2024

This has been a year of new United Nations (UN) involvement for Population Connection.

In April, we co-hosted a side event to the 57th Session of the UN Commission on Population and Development. Dr. Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka, a Population Connection board member and the Founder and Executive Director of Conservation Through Public Health in Uganda, was a panelist, along with Dr. Karen Hardee, a researcher and consultant with decades of experience working on population issues. Well over 100 people attended!

We’ve also delivered three oral statements at UN events, which I describe in more detail in this issue here. Ours was the only statement at each of these events that focused on population challenges … which is confounding, especially since one of them was a population conference. It has become undeniably clear to us at Population Connection that if we don’t speak up about the critical need for population stabilization at meetings like this, the topic will be overlooked entirely.

On World Population Day, July 11, the UN Population Division released a new revision of its World Population Prospects estimates and projections, which are similar to those in the previous revision released in 2022. We presented key messages from this new data to our members and supporters during a virtual event that same day. Thanks to all who joined the conversation during the Q&A — it’s always impressive (and a little intimidating!) to hear from our members during virtual events. You’re all so thoughtful, knowledgeable, and accomplished.

For those who weren’t able to attend, here are some highlights about where we might be headed: The UN now projects (in its medium variant) that the world population will peak at 10.3 billion in 2084, and that it will gradually decline to 10.2 billion in 2100. These figures belie the range of possible outcomes, however — UN demographers forecast that the population in 2100 has a 95% likelihood of being between 9 billion and 11.4 billion — a difference equivalent to the current combined size of Europe, Northern America, Australia, New Zealand, and sub-Saharan Africa!

If we endeavor as a global community to land at the lower end of the projection range, investments in addressing unmet need for family planning, from country governments and international donors, must rise to the occasion. The US could lead the way by funding international family planning at our “fair share” pledged amount of $1.74 billion — nearly three times our actual investment of $607.5 million, which has been stagnant for 14 years, not even accounting for inflation.

It would be helpful in our push for increased funding for family planning if agencies such as the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and environmental organizations such as pretty much all of them would get back to making the connections between family planning shortfalls, population growth, development obstacles, and environmental crises. Because however disappointing, it’s clear that, on its own, women’s health isn’t enough of a priority to get members of Congress to pony up.

Marian Starkey
marian@popconnect.org