In the News
Executive Director Discusses Global Population Growth
- 20 October 2011
UNFPA Executive Director Dr. Babatunde Osotimehin emphasized the critical role of young people during a lecture yesterday on the ongoing challenges posed by global population growth.
The lecture—given just a few weeks before the world population is anticipated to cross 7 billion—was hosted by the Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies, where Osotimehin served as a visiting fellow from 1996 to 1997.
Osotimehin said that while environmental sustainability is an important issue, it is also critical to address social issues facing young people, including economic inequality and poor access to reproductive health resources.
“We must ask ourselves how to engage with young people in different contexts so as to make them equal partners in the development of their countries,” said Osotimehin.
By providing the 1.8 billion young people in the world with political access, social access, and economic access, Osotimehin said, we can produce a better educated generation with the capacity to address ongoing social problems.
Read the full story by Michael G. Proulx in The Harvard Crimson
