News Selection – World Population

11/9/2018: China's health commission is getting rid of three offices that were previously dedicated to family planning, the latest signal that Beijing may further reduce restrictions on childbirth to combat an ageing population. Source: Channel NewsAsia

15/8/2018: US President Donald Trump reintroduced and expanded the Global Gag Rule to curb access to abortion services. A decision taken in far-away Washington has dire implications for African women. Source: DW

Tread Softly Comment: Worrying early signs that the impact of the Trump administration's reintroduction of the Global Gag Rule could become devastating in Africa. Health clinics closing, unaffordable medical fees and rising numbers of unplanned pregnancies are all indicators that the greatly enlarged scope of the Rule may derail recent years of progress in reproductive health. Relevant Briefing: Opposition to Family Planning

25/4/2018: The British High Commissioner to Nigeria has argued that the country's rate of population growth may create a demographic disaster rather than dividend. A local editorial responds with a more positive view.

12/4/2018: Development partners covered most of the costs of Cambodia's 2008 population census. The 2018 census is already delayed by a year and there have been no donor commitments, presumably on account of the country's declining standards of governance.

22/3/2018: Fifty years after the publication of his controversial book, The Population Bomb, biologist Paul Ehrlich warns overpopulation and overconsumption are driving us over the edge.

6/2/2018: The world's average total fertility rate declined from over five children per woman in 1960 to 2.5 in 2013. The transformation has not been limited to wealthy countries. Should family planning strategies or economic growth take the credit?

9/7/2017: As the London summit called to accelerate global family planning gets under way, latest figures show that plans to help more than 100 million women to access contraception are way off target.

21/6/2017: Latest UN estimates predict that the world’s population will break through the 8 billion mark in 2023. Despite further projected growth to 9.8 billion by 2050, the population of most European countries is expected to decline.

15/5/2017: Africa’s population is the fastest growing in the world, with its share of working-age individuals relative to the non-working-age population likely to increase. This should be good news for economies but the outcome is far from certain.

4/4/2017: The UN population fund (UNFPA) has denied the allegation of the US State Department that its programmes countenance coercive abortion. These are the grounds cited for withholding US aid funds from the organisation.