{"id":93133,"date":"2011-10-15T09:00:25","date_gmt":"2011-10-15T13:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"\/gazette\/?p=93133"},"modified":"2011-10-15T09:00:25","modified_gmt":"2011-10-15T13:00:25","slug":"7-billion-and-climbing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2011\/10\/7-billion-and-climbing\/","title":{"rendered":"7 billion, and climbing"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t\n\t
\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tNation & World\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\n\t\t

\n\t\t7 billion, and climbing\t<\/h1>\n\n\t\n\t\n\t
\n\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t

\n\t\tAlvin Powell\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t

\n\t\t\tHarvard Staff Writer\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/address>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t

\n\t\t\tAs population grows, educating girls, engaging youth are top needs \t\t<\/h2>\n\t\t\n<\/header>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\t\t

With the world\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Though the population is expected to surpass 7 billion on Oct. 31<\/a>, 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,\u00a0 that may create a different global future than if that same man were raised to want everything that someone in a developed nation like Denmark has, which would multiply humankind\u2019s environmental footprint enormously.<\/p>\n

Osotimehin spoke at the Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies<\/a>, where he was a fellow in 1996 and 1997. He described a world that will be transformed in the next few decades. By midcentury, the global population is expected to hit 9 billion, with 70 percent living in cities. The list of megacities, with populations over 10 million, is expected to grow rapidly, straining infrastructure and swelling slums.<\/p>\n

Though the world\u2019s present growth rate has slowed from 20 years ago, the sheer numbers of humans having babies ensures that the population will continue to climb. The fastest-growing countries are in Africa and Asia. In those nations, young people are making up larger percentages of the population, yet Osotimehin said that national resources aren\u2019t targeted to their needs proportionately. In Kenya, for example, 85 percent of the population is under 35, yet the nation doesn\u2019t spend near 85 percent of its budget on their needs.<\/p>\n

Young people are critical to these countries\u2019 future, he said, and nations should pay attention to them, particularly through education, to ensure they are engaged and participate in society.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to ask ourselves how to engage with young people and make them equal partners in the future of the country,\u201d Osotimehin said.<\/p>\n

One segment of the young population that is particularly important is young women and girls, Osotimehin said. In many of the fastest-growing nations, girls have few choices. They\u2019re poorly educated, are married off while teenagers to begin a life of childbearing, and don\u2019t participate fully in the economy.<\/p>\n

Ensuring that those girls get a secondary education, he said, will not only delay their childbearing years but will give them a greater chance of participating more fully in society.<\/p>\n

Gender-based violence is another pressing issue, Osotimehin said, and widely underreported. He told of a visit to a refugee camp on the Kenya-Somalia border in which he interviewed groups of boys and girls separately. The boys were educated, had access to the Internet, and, though they worried about their futures, weren\u2019t in particular danger. The girls he interviewed, however, stayed mainly silent, with one girl doing the talking. Many had suffered sexual attacks, and fear kept all but two of the 20 from attending school.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt comes down to the status of women in our country. What do women mean to us? What do girls mean to us?\u201d Osotimehin said.<\/p>\n

While much of his talk focused on the growing population of young people, he also said the world has to pay attention to its elderly. The world\u2019s population growth has been boosted as much by lengthening life expectancy as by the increase in young people, he said. Nations have to ensure they have ways to care for their elderly. China\u2019s population is rapidly aging, for example, but the migration of large numbers of people to the cities has broken the traditional extended family structure through which the old received care.<\/p>\n

He also addressed other issues, cautioning that environmental priorities should not push aside societal ones. He said developing nations need to show a commitment to helping their own people and not just rely on donor aid, which today provides 90 percent of AIDS treatment and which, if withdrawn, could spell disaster.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is unsustainable,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Osotimehin said that academics can help by providing data that defines problems and points out solutions.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat you can do for us as a community is to provide evidence,\u201d Osotimehin said. \u201cWhether on youth, on aging, on reproductive health, we need evidence.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

U.N. official Babatunde Osotimehin says that educating women and girls worldwide is a critical step in slowing population growth.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":105622744,"featured_media":93148,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"gz_ga_pageviews":0,"gz_ga_lastupdated":"","document_color_palette":null,"author":"Alvin Powell","affiliation":"Harvard Staff Writer","_category_override":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1378],"tags":[3753,5208,7571,27830,34745,34755],"gazette-formats":[],"series":[],"class_list":["post-93133","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nation-world","tag-alvin-powell","tag-babatunde-osotimehin","tag-center-for-population-and-development-studies","tag-population","tag-united-nations","tag-united-nations-population-fund"],"yoast_head":"\n7 billion, and climbing — Harvard Gazette<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"U.N. official Babatunde Osotimehin says that educating women and girls worldwide is a critical step in slowing population growth.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2011\/10\/7-billion-and-climbing\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"7 billion, and climbing — Harvard Gazette\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"U.N. official Babatunde Osotimehin says that educating women and girls worldwide is a critical step in slowing population growth.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2011\/10\/7-billion-and-climbing\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Harvard Gazette\" 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","className":"is-style-square","backgroundFixed":false,"backgroundTone":"light","centeredImage":false,"coloredBackground":false,"displayOverlay":true,"fadeInText":false,"isAmbient":false,"mediaHeight":0,"mediaLength":"","mediaPosition":"","mediaWidth":0,"posterText":"","titleAbove":false,"useUncroppedImage":false,"lock":[],"metadata":[]},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"","innerContent":[],"rendered":"<header\n\tclass=\"wp-block-harvard-gazette-article-header alignfull article-header is-style-square has-light-background has-colored-heading\"\n\tstyle=\" \"\n>\n\t\n\t<div class=\"article-header__content\">\n\t\t\t<a\n\t\t\tclass=\"article-header__category\"\n\t\t\thref=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/section\/nation-world\/\"\n\t\t>\n\t\t\tNation & World\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\n\t\t<h1 class=\"article-header__title wp-block-heading has-large-text\">\n\t\t7 billion, and climbing\t<\/h1>\n\n\t\n\t\n\t<div class=\"article-header__meta\">\n\t\t<div class=\"wp-block-post-author\">\n\t\t\t<address class=\"wp-block-post-author__content\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"author wp-block-post-author__name\">\n\t\tAlvin Powell\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p class=\"wp-block-post-author__byline\">\n\t\t\tHarvard Staff Writer\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/address>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t<time class=\"article-header__date\" datetime=\"2011-10-15\">\n\t\t\tOctober 15, 2011\t\t<\/time>\n\n\t\t<span class=\"article-header__reading-time\">\n\t\t\t4 min read\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t\t<h2 class=\"article-header__subheading wp-block-heading\">\n\t\t\tAs population grows, educating girls, engaging youth are top needs \t\t<\/h2>\n\t\t\n<\/header>\n"},"2":{"blockName":"core\/group","attrs":{"templateLock":false,"metadata":{"name":"Article content"},"align":"wide","layout":{"type":"constrained","justifyContent":"center"},"tagName":"div","lock":[],"className":"","style":[],"backgroundColor":"","textColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","ariaLabel":"","anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[{"blockName":"core\/freeform","attrs":{"content":"","lock":[],"metadata":[]},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n\t\t<p>With the world\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>Though the population is expected to surpass <a href=\"http:\/\/www.unfpa.org\/swp\/\">7 billion on Oct. 31<\/a>, 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,\u00a0 that may create a different global future than if that same man were raised to want everything that someone in a developed nation like Denmark has, which would multiply humankind\u2019s environmental footprint enormously.<\/p>\n<p>Osotimehin spoke at the <a href=\"http:\/\/134.174.190.199\/centers-institutes\/population-development\/\">Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies<\/a>, where he was a fellow in 1996 and 1997. He described a world that will be transformed in the next few decades. By midcentury, the global population is expected to hit 9 billion, with 70 percent living in cities. The list of megacities, with populations over 10 million, is expected to grow rapidly, straining infrastructure and swelling slums.<\/p>\n<p>Though the world\u2019s present growth rate has slowed from 20 years ago, the sheer numbers of humans having babies ensures that the population will continue to climb. The fastest-growing countries are in Africa and Asia. In those nations, young people are making up larger percentages of the population, yet Osotimehin said that national resources aren\u2019t targeted to their needs proportionately. In Kenya, for example, 85 percent of the population is under 35, yet the nation doesn\u2019t spend near 85 percent of its budget on their needs.<\/p>\n<p>Young people are critical to these countries\u2019 future, he said, and nations should pay attention to them, particularly through education, to ensure they are engaged and participate in society.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have to ask ourselves how to engage with young people and make them equal partners in the future of the country,\u201d Osotimehin said.<\/p>\n<p>One segment of the young population that is particularly important is young women and girls, Osotimehin said. In many of the fastest-growing nations, girls have few choices. They\u2019re poorly educated, are married off while teenagers to begin a life of childbearing, and don\u2019t participate fully in the economy.<\/p>\n<p>Ensuring that those girls get a secondary education, he said, will not only delay their childbearing years but will give them a greater chance of participating more fully in society.<\/p>\n<p>Gender-based violence is another pressing issue, Osotimehin said, and widely underreported. He told of a visit to a refugee camp on the Kenya-Somalia border in which he interviewed groups of boys and girls separately. The boys were educated, had access to the Internet, and, though they worried about their futures, weren\u2019t in particular danger. The girls he interviewed, however, stayed mainly silent, with one girl doing the talking. Many had suffered sexual attacks, and fear kept all but two of the 20 from attending school.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt comes down to the status of women in our country. What do women mean to us? What do girls mean to us?\u201d Osotimehin said.<\/p>\n<p>While much of his talk focused on the growing population of young people, he also said the world has to pay attention to its elderly. The world\u2019s population growth has been boosted as much by lengthening life expectancy as by the increase in young people, he said. Nations have to ensure they have ways to care for their elderly. China\u2019s population is rapidly aging, for example, but the migration of large numbers of people to the cities has broken the traditional extended family structure through which the old received care.<\/p>\n<p>He also addressed other issues, cautioning that environmental priorities should not push aside societal ones. He said developing nations need to show a commitment to helping their own people and not just rely on donor aid, which today provides 90 percent of AIDS treatment and which, if withdrawn, could spell disaster.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat is unsustainable,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Osotimehin said that academics can help by providing data that defines problems and points out solutions.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat you can do for us as a community is to provide evidence,\u201d Osotimehin said. \u201cWhether on youth, on aging, on reproductive health, we need evidence.\u201d<\/p>\n\n","innerContent":["\n\t\t<p>With the world\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>Though the population is expected to surpass <a href=\"http:\/\/www.unfpa.org\/swp\/\">7 billion on Oct. 31<\/a>, 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,\u00a0 that may create a different global future than if that same man were raised to want everything that someone in a developed nation like Denmark has, which would multiply humankind\u2019s environmental footprint enormously.<\/p>\n<p>Osotimehin spoke at the <a href=\"http:\/\/134.174.190.199\/centers-institutes\/population-development\/\">Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies<\/a>, where he was a fellow in 1996 and 1997. He described a world that will be transformed in the next few decades. By midcentury, the global population is expected to hit 9 billion, with 70 percent living in cities. The list of megacities, with populations over 10 million, is expected to grow rapidly, straining infrastructure and swelling slums.<\/p>\n<p>Though the world\u2019s present growth rate has slowed from 20 years ago, the sheer numbers of humans having babies ensures that the population will continue to climb. The fastest-growing countries are in Africa and Asia. In those nations, young people are making up larger percentages of the population, yet Osotimehin said that national resources aren\u2019t targeted to their needs proportionately. In Kenya, for example, 85 percent of the population is under 35, yet the nation doesn\u2019t spend near 85 percent of its budget on their needs.<\/p>\n<p>Young people are critical to these countries\u2019 future, he said, and nations should pay attention to them, particularly through education, to ensure they are engaged and participate in society.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have to ask ourselves how to engage with young people and make them equal partners in the future of the country,\u201d Osotimehin said.<\/p>\n<p>One segment of the young population that is particularly important is young women and girls, Osotimehin said. In many of the fastest-growing nations, girls have few choices. They\u2019re poorly educated, are married off while teenagers to begin a life of childbearing, and don\u2019t participate fully in the economy.<\/p>\n<p>Ensuring that those girls get a secondary education, he said, will not only delay their childbearing years but will give them a greater chance of participating more fully in society.<\/p>\n<p>Gender-based violence is another pressing issue, Osotimehin said, and widely underreported. He told of a visit to a refugee camp on the Kenya-Somalia border in which he interviewed groups of boys and girls separately. The boys were educated, had access to the Internet, and, though they worried about their futures, weren\u2019t in particular danger. The girls he interviewed, however, stayed mainly silent, with one girl doing the talking. Many had suffered sexual attacks, and fear kept all but two of the 20 from attending school.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt comes down to the status of women in our country. What do women mean to us? What do girls mean to us?\u201d Osotimehin said.<\/p>\n<p>While much of his talk focused on the growing population of young people, he also said the world has to pay attention to its elderly. The world\u2019s population growth has been boosted as much by lengthening life expectancy as by the increase in young people, he said. Nations have to ensure they have ways to care for their elderly. China\u2019s population is rapidly aging, for example, but the migration of large numbers of people to the cities has broken the traditional extended family structure through which the old received care.<\/p>\n<p>He also addressed other issues, cautioning that environmental priorities should not push aside societal ones. He said developing nations need to show a commitment to helping their own people and not just rely on donor aid, which today provides 90 percent of AIDS treatment and which, if withdrawn, could spell disaster.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat is unsustainable,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Osotimehin said that academics can help by providing data that defines problems and points out solutions.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat you can do for us as a community is to provide evidence,\u201d Osotimehin said. \u201cWhether on youth, on aging, on reproductive health, we need evidence.\u201d<\/p>\n\n"],"rendered":"\n\t\t<p>With the world\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>Though the population is expected to surpass <a href=\"http:\/\/www.unfpa.org\/swp\/\">7 billion on Oct. 31<\/a>, 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,\u00a0 that may create a different global future than if that same man were raised to want everything that someone in a developed nation like Denmark has, which would multiply humankind\u2019s environmental footprint enormously.<\/p>\n<p>Osotimehin spoke at the <a href=\"http:\/\/134.174.190.199\/centers-institutes\/population-development\/\">Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies<\/a>, where he was a fellow in 1996 and 1997. He described a world that will be transformed in the next few decades. By midcentury, the global population is expected to hit 9 billion, with 70 percent living in cities. The list of megacities, with populations over 10 million, is expected to grow rapidly, straining infrastructure and swelling slums.<\/p>\n<p>Though the world\u2019s present growth rate has slowed from 20 years ago, the sheer numbers of humans having babies ensures that the population will continue to climb. The fastest-growing countries are in Africa and Asia. In those nations, young people are making up larger percentages of the population, yet Osotimehin said that national resources aren\u2019t targeted to their needs proportionately. In Kenya, for example, 85 percent of the population is under 35, yet the nation doesn\u2019t spend near 85 percent of its budget on their needs.<\/p>\n<p>Young people are critical to these countries\u2019 future, he said, and nations should pay attention to them, particularly through education, to ensure they are engaged and participate in society.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have to ask ourselves how to engage with young people and make them equal partners in the future of the country,\u201d Osotimehin said.<\/p>\n<p>One segment of the young population that is particularly important is young women and girls, Osotimehin said. In many of the fastest-growing nations, girls have few choices. They\u2019re poorly educated, are married off while teenagers to begin a life of childbearing, and don\u2019t participate fully in the economy.<\/p>\n<p>Ensuring that those girls get a secondary education, he said, will not only delay their childbearing years but will give them a greater chance of participating more fully in society.<\/p>\n<p>Gender-based violence is another pressing issue, Osotimehin said, and widely underreported. He told of a visit to a refugee camp on the Kenya-Somalia border in which he interviewed groups of boys and girls separately. The boys were educated, had access to the Internet, and, though they worried about their futures, weren\u2019t in particular danger. The girls he interviewed, however, stayed mainly silent, with one girl doing the talking. Many had suffered sexual attacks, and fear kept all but two of the 20 from attending school.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt comes down to the status of women in our country. What do women mean to us? What do girls mean to us?\u201d Osotimehin said.<\/p>\n<p>While much of his talk focused on the growing population of young people, he also said the world has to pay attention to its elderly. The world\u2019s population growth has been boosted as much by lengthening life expectancy as by the increase in young people, he said. Nations have to ensure they have ways to care for their elderly. China\u2019s population is rapidly aging, for example, but the migration of large numbers of people to the cities has broken the traditional extended family structure through which the old received care.<\/p>\n<p>He also addressed other issues, cautioning that environmental priorities should not push aside societal ones. He said developing nations need to show a commitment to helping their own people and not just rely on donor aid, which today provides 90 percent of AIDS treatment and which, if withdrawn, could spell disaster.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat is unsustainable,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Osotimehin said that academics can help by providing data that defines problems and points out solutions.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat you can do for us as a community is to provide evidence,\u201d Osotimehin said. \u201cWhether on youth, on aging, on reproductive health, we need evidence.\u201d<\/p>\n\n"}],"innerHTML":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-group alignwide\">\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n","innerContent":["\n<div class=\"wp-block-group alignwide\">\n\n","\n\n<\/div>\n"],"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-group alignwide has-global-padding is-content-justification-center is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n\n\n\t\t<p>With the world\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>Though the population is expected to surpass <a href=\"http:\/\/www.unfpa.org\/swp\/\">7 billion on Oct. 31<\/a>, 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,\u00a0 that may create a different global future than if that same man were raised to want everything that someone in a developed nation like Denmark has, which would multiply humankind\u2019s environmental footprint enormously.<\/p>\n<p>Osotimehin spoke at the <a href=\"http:\/\/134.174.190.199\/centers-institutes\/population-development\/\">Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies<\/a>, where he was a fellow in 1996 and 1997. He described a world that will be transformed in the next few decades. By midcentury, the global population is expected to hit 9 billion, with 70 percent living in cities. The list of megacities, with populations over 10 million, is expected to grow rapidly, straining infrastructure and swelling slums.<\/p>\n<p>Though the world\u2019s present growth rate has slowed from 20 years ago, the sheer numbers of humans having babies ensures that the population will continue to climb. The fastest-growing countries are in Africa and Asia. In those nations, young people are making up larger percentages of the population, yet Osotimehin said that national resources aren\u2019t targeted to their needs proportionately. In Kenya, for example, 85 percent of the population is under 35, yet the nation doesn\u2019t spend near 85 percent of its budget on their needs.<\/p>\n<p>Young people are critical to these countries\u2019 future, he said, and nations should pay attention to them, particularly through education, to ensure they are engaged and participate in society.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have to ask ourselves how to engage with young people and make them equal partners in the future of the country,\u201d Osotimehin said.<\/p>\n<p>One segment of the young population that is particularly important is young women and girls, Osotimehin said. In many of the fastest-growing nations, girls have few choices. They\u2019re poorly educated, are married off while teenagers to begin a life of childbearing, and don\u2019t participate fully in the economy.<\/p>\n<p>Ensuring that those girls get a secondary education, he said, will not only delay their childbearing years but will give them a greater chance of participating more fully in society.<\/p>\n<p>Gender-based violence is another pressing issue, Osotimehin said, and widely underreported. He told of a visit to a refugee camp on the Kenya-Somalia border in which he interviewed groups of boys and girls separately. The boys were educated, had access to the Internet, and, though they worried about their futures, weren\u2019t in particular danger. The girls he interviewed, however, stayed mainly silent, with one girl doing the talking. Many had suffered sexual attacks, and fear kept all but two of the 20 from attending school.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt comes down to the status of women in our country. What do women mean to us? What do girls mean to us?\u201d Osotimehin said.<\/p>\n<p>While much of his talk focused on the growing population of young people, he also said the world has to pay attention to its elderly. The world\u2019s population growth has been boosted as much by lengthening life expectancy as by the increase in young people, he said. Nations have to ensure they have ways to care for their elderly. China\u2019s population is rapidly aging, for example, but the migration of large numbers of people to the cities has broken the traditional extended family structure through which the old received care.<\/p>\n<p>He also addressed other issues, cautioning that environmental priorities should not push aside societal ones. He said developing nations need to show a commitment to helping their own people and not just rely on donor aid, which today provides 90 percent of AIDS treatment and which, if withdrawn, could spell disaster.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat is unsustainable,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Osotimehin said that academics can help by providing data that defines problems and points out solutions.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat you can do for us as a community is to provide evidence,\u201d Osotimehin said. \u201cWhether on youth, on aging, on reproductive health, we need evidence.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n"}},"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":119531,"url":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2012\/10\/a-close-eye-on-population-growth\/","url_meta":{"origin":93133,"position":0},"title":"A close eye on population growth","author":"harvardgazette","date":"October 6, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Joel Cohen, head of the Laboratory of Populations at Rockefeller and Columbia universities, looked at the latest projections for world population growth, and factors that could alter them, in a Harvard talk.","rel":"","context":"In "Science & Tech"","block_context":{"text":"Science & Tech","link":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/section\/science-technology\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/100312_sustain_184_605.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/100312_sustain_184_605.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/100312_sustain_184_605.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":155745,"url":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2014\/05\/managing-an-aging-populace\/","url_meta":{"origin":93133,"position":1},"title":"Managing an aging populace","author":"harvardgazette","date":"May 1, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Aging, health care, and the challenges facing the globe\u2019s women were the focus of a symposium marking the 50th anniversary of the Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies.","rel":"","context":"In "Science & Tech"","block_context":{"text":"Science & Tech","link":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/section\/science-technology\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/pop_overview_605.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/pop_overview_605.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/pop_overview_605.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":135941,"url":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2013\/04\/earth-feels-impact-of-middle-class\/","url_meta":{"origin":93133,"position":2},"title":"Earth feels impact of middle class","author":"harvardgazette","date":"April 22, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"The rise of the middle class is a bigger environmental challenge than the rising global population, according to Sir David King, the former science adviser to the British government, who urged the adoption of sustainable development as a way to manage growing global demands in a finite world.","rel":"","context":"In "Science & Tech"","block_context":{"text":"Science & Tech","link":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/section\/science-technology\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/041713_king_196-cr2_605.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/041713_king_196-cr2_605.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/041713_king_196-cr2_605.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":151604,"url":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2014\/01\/some-secrets-of-longevity\/","url_meta":{"origin":93133,"position":3},"title":"Some secrets of longevity","author":"harvardgazette","date":"January 23, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"The average life expectancy in the United States has fallen behind that of other industrialized nations as the American income gap has widened. Also, particular health habits, including weight control, nutrition, and exercise, clearly influence the effects aging among segments of the U.S. population.","rel":"","context":"In "Health"","block_context":{"text":"Health","link":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/section\/health\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/healthyaging-030_605.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/healthyaging-030_605.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/healthyaging-030_605.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":137075,"url":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2013\/04\/giants-behind-challenges-ahead\/","url_meta":{"origin":93133,"position":4},"title":"Giants behind, challenges ahead","author":"harvardgazette","date":"April 30, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Fifty years after its founding, the Harvard School of Public Health\u2019s Department of Global Health and Population took time for reflection and a look ahead on April 25 during an all-day symposium at the School.","rel":"","context":"In "Health"","block_context":{"text":"Health","link":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/section\/health\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/042413_hsph50_605.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/042413_hsph50_605.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/042413_hsph50_605.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":160053,"url":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2014\/09\/u-s-unprepared-for-housing-needs-of-aging-population\/","url_meta":{"origin":93133,"position":5},"title":"U.S. unprepared for housing needs of aging population","author":"harvardgazette","date":"September 2, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"America\u2019s older population is experiencing unprecedented growth, but the country is not prepared to meet the housing needs of this aging group, concludes a new report released today by Harvard\u2019s Joint Center for Housing Studies and the AARP Foundation.","rel":"","context":"In "Nation & World"","block_context":{"text":"Nation & World","link":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/section\/nation-world\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/interactive-map_screenshot.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/interactive-map_screenshot.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/interactive-map_screenshot.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93133","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/105622744"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=93133"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93133\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/93148"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=93133"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=93133"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=93133"},{"taxonomy":"format","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/gazette-formats?post=93133"},{"taxonomy":"series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/series?post=93133"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}