Thanks to Tim Murray for this article.
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What is the biggest danger facing Nigeria? Corruption? Kidnapping? Armed insurgency? Religious extremism? Nigeria’s ticking time bomb might be in its mothers’ wombs….

Nigeria is Africa’s most populous nation, the world’s eighth most populous country, and is the most heavily populated black nation on Earth. Although Nigerians shout with chest thumping pride about their large population, it is nothing to be proud of and is actually a grave danger to the country.

For full article, visit:
http://234next.com/csp/cms/site

Thanks to SD Shantinath for this article from BBC News. Clearly, education of girls is not the total answer to high fertility rates. Access to family planning information and services are indispensable, as are cultural norms regarding age of marriage and first pregnancy, ideal family size, and rights of women to play a role in determining whether and when to expose themselves to pregnancy.
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Unplanned pregnancies among Nigerian teenagers and young women have risen despite improvements in educational levels, a report found.

In 2003, 16% of pregnancies among girls and women aged 15-24 had been unintended, compared with 10% in 1990.

The study from the New York-based Guttmacher Institute said low use of contraceptives was partially to blame.

For full article, visit:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8102970.stm

Too many teenage girls are getting married in Bangladesh today, say health specialists.

According to the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) State of the World’s Children 2009 report, more than 64 percent of girls marry before they are 18.

But with early marriage comes early pregnancy. One-third of teenage girls aged 15 to 19 are mothers or pregnant in Bangladesh today, with adolescent mothers more likely to suffer birth complications than adult women, the British Medical Journal reports.

For full article, visit:
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=85516

Family Planning and Economic Well-Being: New Evidence From Bangladesh
Family planning is one of the most cost-effective health interventions in the developing world. For decades, research has shown that for a relatively modest investment, family planning saves lives and improves maternal and child health. However, there have been relatively few studies that shed light on how family planning also lifts families out of poverty.

For full article, visit:
http://www.prb.org/Publications/PolicyBriefs/bangladeshfamilyplanning.aspx

Family Planning and Economic Well-Being: New Evidence From Bangladesh, Interview With Jay Gribble

In this interview, Jay Gribble, vice president of International Programs at PRB and a co-author of the PRB Policy Brief, “Family Planning and Economic Well-Being: New Evidence From Bangladesh,” discusses how a family planning and health program benefitted women and families in the Matlab area of Bangladesh in terms of livelihoods, health, and education, as well as the policy implications of the recent study’s findings.
http://www.prb.org/Journalists/Webcasts/2009/bangladeshfamilyplanning.aspx

Below is a link to an interview with Ann DeMarle from Emergent Media Center. PMC is working with Emergent Media Center and UNFPA to create an electronic game for adolescent boys aimed at preventing violence against women.

What do you want people to know about the project?

Ann: My answer to that is two-fold. One, violence against women is a huge global problem; that’s the most important thing for people to know. Secondly, we’re using a medium,games, that has been labeled as promoting violence, and we’re taking it and applying it in the opposite direction, to create behavior changes to end violence. It’s not as easy to accomplish as I wish it would be.

For full article, visit:
http://www.canow.org/canoworg/2009/10/

Thanks to Dave Gardener for this article.
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It has often been said that a huge population with a large number of youth is an advantage to a country because this is a good source of labor and consumers.

However, two professors from the University of the Philippines refuted the claim, stressing the negative effects on the economy, especially in the household-savings rate.

Professors Dennis Mapa and Kristine Joy Briones from the University of the Philippines in Diliman said, “The high proportion of young dependents creates a negative effect in the aggregate household savings, which results in the decrease in the overall household-savings rate,” in their paper, “Population Dynamics and Elderly Saving: An Econometric Analysis,” presented at the recent National Academy of Science and Technology’s Annual Scientific Meeting.

For full article, visit:
http://businessmirror.com.ph/home

Thanks to Marianne Ward for this article.
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The U.N.’s Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), already undermined by the global financial crisis, are expected to take another hit – this time from rising population growth.

The goal of halving the number of people living in extreme poverty and hunger by 2015 could be jeopardised by soaring population growth, mostly in the developing world.

World population is expected to reach seven billion by 2011, a year earlier than expected, according to the latest figures released by the Population Research Bureau last week.

For full article, visit:
www.commondreams.org/headline/2009/08/17-7

Take the Ryerson Challenge

Tell me in 25 words or less: “Why is reducing population growth essential to achieving sustainability?”
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You can now see Podcasts and PowerPoint presentations from the October 6 presentation of the “Population Growth and Rising Consumption: What’s Sustainable?” Sponsored by the Population Institute, the Population Media Center and the Wallace Global Fund, the forum featured five prominent experts on population, economics and sustainability.

Visit Population Institute’s website for a full listing of speakers, their accompanying PowerPoint and video presentations.

On Friday afternoon, I will participate in a panel on population at the Bioneers by the Bay conference in New Bedford, Massachusetts. The conference, Connecting for Change, begins on Friday, October 23. Before the conference, the Zeiterion Theatre is opening its doors free to the public, Thursday, October 22 at 7:00pm (doors open at 6:30pm) for a Kick-off Event, featuring some of the largest names in the green movement. This FREE opening event will feature Natural Resources Defense Council’s (NRDC) new film ACID TEST, NRDC senior scientist Dr. Lisa Suatoni and former pro-basketball player turned urban farmer Will Allen.

Thanks to Don Collins for the editorial that follows.
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Growing up in small town America in the 1940s and 50s was in retrospect a great experience. Such was my fate: a small stable nuclear family, conscientious well-employed father, non-working mother, only one sibling rival—a sister five years younger.

I recently went back to my home town of Greensburg, Pennsylvania, for my 60th high school reunion. In many ways, I found things hadn’t changed very much. Greensburg is a quiet and prosperous city of some 50,000, the county seat of Westmoreland County, about 32 miles southwest of Pittsburgh. I imagine there are many small towns and cities around the US that fit that description. Certainly there are many in rural and semi rural areas of Pennsylvania.

For full article, visit:
http://www.vdare.com/asp/printPage