Choices and responsibilities: finding the balance.

• Position: World population

In 1994, world population will grow by a record 91 million, to more than 5.6 billion people. Some 950 million will be added during this decade alone, nearly all in developing countries. Indeed, while it took 123 years for the world population to increase from I billion to 2 billion, the transition from 5 billion to 6 billion, currently underway, is expected to take only 11 years.

Such a rapidly increasing population weighs heavily on the earth's resources and environment, and severely hinders human efforts to provide employment, housing and social services for the citizens of this planet.

To forge consensus on the path towards a more sustainable balance between human numbers and limited natural resources, decision makers and political leaders from all countries of the world and all sectors of society will convene in Cairo, Egypt, from 5 to 13 September 1994 for the UN-sponsored International Conference on Population and Development.

Dr. Nafis Sadik, Executive Director of the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) and Conference Secretary-General, in a special message prepared for the Conference's newsletter "Population 94", said that the Conference "will remind the international community that population problems are among the most serious threats to the attainment of sustained growth and sustainable development". The gathering "will strive to transform the heightened awareness of current and emerging population issues into operational strategies for effective and comprehensive programmes".

The major underlying theme of the Conference is to address the links between population, the environment, sustained economic growth and sustainable development. Related aims include: integrating population concerns into development activities; stabilizing population growth rates to balance human demands with available resources; and addressing important demographic trends, such as urbanization, national and international migration, and ageing.

"No lasting solution to problems of the environment and poverty can be found without resolving population issues", according to Dr. Sadik. "Refining strategic population and development goals, particularly at the operational level, extending the outreach and effectiveness of population programmes, and securing commitments and resources over the long term will pave the way for sustained and sustainable development."

The Conference will also emphasize choices and responsibilities, with key issues to include: enabling informed choices by ensuring access to safe and affordable family planning methods; acknowledging the need for better health care, housing, education and other measures to alleviate poverty; creating greater economic opportunities for women; and increasing domestic spending and international assistance for population activities.

"The 1994 Conference is not just about policies and goals, demographic change and development at the macro level. It is also about improving the quality of life at the individual level", Dr. Sadik went on to state in her message. "We must remember the women, men and children throughout the world who suffer from hunger, poor health and premature death: the women and adolescent girls who die or are disabled due to inadequate reproductive health services; the large numbers of children, especially girls, who are out of school...