World Population Day, 11th July

 

Thailand's 'Mr Condom' Mechai Viravaidya, 82

I’m on the mailing list for Population Matters (patron: David Attenborough) and was sent a press release for ‘World Population Day, 11^th July’.  This blog began just before 8 Billion Day and population is a theme, so I was interested in reading the report.

While I think that it’s inevitable that population will fall steadily form mid-late century, we have a torrid time to get through in our, our children & grandchildren’s time. The Cerberus heatwave around the Mediterranean is looking very ugly and all the bad stuff is linked to human numbers and people’s reasonable aspirations, including to migrate in search of better opportunities (like the great European migration to the U.S.A. in the nineteenth century).

The report is basically encouraging reading and gives case studies on four countries/regions – Thailand, Rwanda, Costa Rica and the Indian state of Kerala. The nutshell message is that family size drops and economic prosperity rises following on from female education and gender equality. All four examples now have higher GDP per capita and lower TFR (total fertility rate) than their neighbours with less enlightened policies. All this is done with emphasis on human rights and not on coercion, and doubtless the neighbours are watching and learning so the important thing is to get the message out and spread best practice.

Rwanda is getting some critical focus in the UK for valid reasons unconnected with its government’s social policies (the report makes interesting reading) but seems to have had something of a turn-around. It was of course the country of the notorious genocide in 1994 where a million people were murdered in a country with a population of just eight million (and a million fled). In the 1980s, the country had a TFR of 8.5 and became the most densely populated country in Africa; it’s hard not to draw an obvious conclusion.

To quote the report, “In the early 2000s, population started to resurface as a policy concern. The National Policy for Sustainable Development was introduced in 2003. The plan identified the importance of addressing population growth as part of a holistic programme for sustainable development, including ensuring universal education for all children, and equal economic opportunity for men and women. Political will was growing, with population action internally motivated, rather than heavily influenced by external donors as it had been in the past.” All pretty sensible so no need to despair in the developed world that Africa isn’t doing its stuff (which would be a racist trope anyway), and get on with putting our own house in order on environmental and equality issues.

But, in a blog which praises a local hero from the 1890s (this village in Oxfordshire), it’s good to see local heroes at work around the globe, such as Thailand’s 82 year old ‘Mr Condom’ (main picture).

Picture credit:  BBC