May 2011's Edition of
POPULATION ONLINE
Brings you stories on...

• UN Report Shows World Population Growing Faster than Previously Projected
  The U.N. has issued a revised world population forecast that shows population growing faster than previously projected. The new "medium variant" forecast issued by the U.N. shows world population reaching the 7 billion mark in October of 2011, reaching 9.3 billion by 2050 and 10.1 billion by the end of the 21st century. Hania Zlotnick, director of the population division of the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, warned that the new projection has "serious implications" for the ability to provide food, water, energy, education and employment for millions of people in the world's poorest nations.
• World Bank President says the Food Crisis has entered the “Danger Zone”
  On April 14, World Bank president Robert Zellick warned that the world food crisis has entered the "danger zone." Food stocks are so low that another round of bad harvests could send food prices soaring still higher. According to the World Bank's index of basic food commodities, prices last month were 36% above a year earlier.
• India’s Population Rises to 1.2 billion
  The government of India released the results of its recent decennial census. The provisional results indicated that the population of India has grown by about 17.64% between 2001 and 2011. The population of India, 1.21 billion, is now almost equal to the combined population of USA, Indonesia, Brazil, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Japan put together and will likely exceed 1.4 billion by 2030,surpassing China's population and making India the world’s most populous nation.
• Federal Budget Cuts International Family Planning Funding by 5%
  The Federal Budget was approved last month with $615 million in funding for international family planning and reproductive health programs for the current fiscal year (FY2011). The $615 million is a 5% cut from the funding level from last year (FY 2010) which was $648 million. This breaks down to $575 million in bilateral assistance and $40 million for the United Nations Population Fund. While the $615 million is far short of the $1 billion appropriation that advocates of international family planning say is required in order to achieve universal access to reproductive health care by 2015, opponents were gearing up for far larger cuts in funding.
• 17 Days of Action: From Mother Earth to Mothers
  The Population Institute joined with other supporters of the "Million for a Billion" petition campaign to highlight the linkages between family planning, healthy mothers and a healthy planet. When women everywhere have access to family planning and reproductive health services, there are fewer unplanned births, fewer women die as a result of pregnancy-related causes, and more children survive infancy. Women are empowered, their families prosper, and the whole world benefits. From Earth Day to Mothers Day supporters of the petition asked their followers to take a specific action every day to learn more about the benefits of providing universal access to reproductive health services.