UN: Wasting 1.8 billion (and counting)

When I was born, world under-15 population was a little less than a billion, 75% of it in the 'less developed regions' (UN definition). By 2000, world under-15 population had nearly doubled to about 1.8 b people, with about 88% in the less developed regions. This will continue to be the case for the rest of the century - about 1.6 billion youngsters in the less developed regions throughout.

An av ...erage of 200 million children per year from 2000 to 2020, 2030, 2040, 2050 in less developed countries EXCLUDING China. The poorer and more remote, less 'connected', poorly 'serviced', people have higher fertility, and even their survival rates improve throughout all age groups. They account for about a half of the total new children on average, even as infrastructure services improve.

That is, some 100 million children a year, or three billion citizens of humanity over the next thirty years will not have the "minimum conditions" - apart from shelter and food security - to lead healthy, productive, peacefully "engaged" lives.

(Yes, I happen to believe that a healthy, productive, voluntarily engaged populace is the ONLY objective of public policy. The means and scale are 'special interests'.)

A couple of billion people wasted. Four billion more in the rest of my lifetime (should I live that long). (Apart from the newborns, the rest of the population without basic infrastructure is another billion or more. And the 55+ population is also increasing. I am talking about developing countries excluding China.)

The poor don't tax the earth's resources. It's our neglect of the poor that wastes them - and the earth's resources.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/oct/26/un-economic-benefit-young-people

www.guardian.co.uk

UN: World will miss economic benefit of 1.8 billion young people

Population report says lack of education, infrastructure and jobs will mean a generation's potential will be wasted.

"The world is in danger of missing a golden opportunity for development and economic growth, a "demographic dividend", as the largest cohort of young people ever known see their most economically productive years wasted, a major UN population report warned on Wednesday.