Today I’ll be presenting a report on our findings on the condition of the world’s population. It may be a surprise to you that half the people in the world live on less than two dollars a day, and one billion people live on less than one dollar a day.
I’m going to look at poverty and its relationship to population issues. We must work fast if we hope to reduce poverty by half, by the year 2015.
Our survey shows that the first step should be to improve health-care systems. In the world’ poorest countries, people are expected to live just 49 years. One in ten children doesn’t reach his or her first birthday. According to our study, poor health and poverty are linked. Women areaffected most by poor-care systems, especially pregnant women.
The second job we have to do, as many of you can guess, is to reduce birth rates. We have found that when given a choice, poor people in developing countries have fewer children than their parents dis. A possible reason for this is probably that smaller families have fewer expenses and more chances of increasing their earnings and savings.
Since the 1970s, developing countries with lower birth rates have had faster economic growth. They have had higher productivity, more savings and more investment. Obviously we must encourage family planning and lower birth rates.
Now, here is the third measure we must take: promote education in developing countries. Investing in education, especially for women, can reduce poverty. Educated women have more opportunities to work and a chance to live better. Moreover, they tend to send their children to food schools so that they can climb the social ladder.
Well, any questions? None? OK. Now I’ll talk about the fourth step we need to take…
