Triumph or threat? The birth of a baby boy in Yugoslavia is cause for celebration and concern.

PositionFive billionth person

Triumph or threat?

The birth of a baby boy in Yugoslavia is cause for celebration and concern

Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar took tiny Matej Gaspar in his arms a few minutes after he was born and proclaimed him the five billionth person on the planet. It was a fine Saturday morning in Zagreb, Yugoslavia, capital of the Croatian Republic. Matej was born at 8:25 a.m. on 11 July 1987.

The healthy, blond, 7 pound, 9 ounce boy is the second child of Sanja and Dragutin Gaspar. Matej's mother is a nurse, his father an electrician.

"You should be thankful that your son has been born in prosperity', the Secretary-General said to the smiling 23-year old mother while flashbulbs popped and more than 150 journalists from all over the world jostled to cover the scene. He noted that 9 out of 10 children in the world were born in developing countries.

That evening, the Secretary-General and Dr. Nafis Sadik, Executive Director of the United Nations Fund for Population Activities, who...

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