A newborn baby lies on a radiant warmer inside a special care unit at a hospital in Amritsar on Oct. 13. India is projected to see an explosion in its urban population in the coming decades, but its cities already cannot cope and climate change will make living conditions harsher still. (Photo: Narinder Nanu/AFP)
By Ben Joseph
Nov 17 2022
Sweet words will no more do the magic for the continent and its new generation of babies.
Today, Nov.15, is considered to be the day when the global population reaches eight billion going by UN projections, which also claim the world is moving toward a zero percent growth rate by 2080s.
According to the latest UN projections, the world’s population will reach 8.5 billion in 2030 and 9.7 billion in 2050, before reaching a peak of 10.4 billion by 2080 – to remain at that level until 2100.
Then a zero percent rate is expected, as with the near-universal family planning models, the act of having children will become personal rather than interpersonal by that time.
“Let us protect human rights and the ability of all individuals to make informed choices about whether and when to have children,” said UN Secretary-General António Guterres, reacting to the World Population Prospects 2022.
Asian nations continue to contribute to the global population growth with its poverty-stricken masses of ill-educated majority following cultural and religious ethos that consider it a sin to restrict birth through artificial means.
In 2022, the two most populous regions were both in Asia: Eastern and South-Eastern Asia with 2.3 billion people (29 percent of the global population) and Central and Southern Asia with 2.1 billion (26 percent).
China and India, with more than 1.4 billion each, accounted for most of the population in these two regions, says the newly released report.
More than half of the projected increase in global population up to 2050 will be concentrated in just eight countries: the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines and Tanzania.
In Asia, India, Pakistan, and the Philippines will witness a boom in population growth. India is the second largest populous country in the world after China, and with an average annual rate of 1.9 percent, Pakistan is already home to almost 3 percent of the world’s population.
These three Asian nations, at the same time, hold a poor track record in eradicating poverty, combating hunger and malnutrition, and their health and education systems are far from satisfactory.
These nations are experiencing a demographic transition with their high and persistent level of fertility, while other Asian nations like China are moving down from high to low fertility.
India’s fragile and tardy healthcare system was brought to light when the Covid-19 pandemic struck the country hard last year, forcing people to burn bodies in public and throw them into rivers.
On the socioeconomic front, these nations are known for widespread inequalities across provinces and regions and quality of life historically varies among their various population groups also.
India, Pakistan and the Philippines have been the largest suppliers of human labor for the global economy. In fact, it is the toil of Indians, Pakistanis and Filipinos that keep the vast oil-based economy of the Middle East going even up to now.
However, these nations are yet to recover from the pandemic, which severely restricted all forms of human mobility, including international migration. So, it is not going to be a cakewalk for these counties to host and feed the existing population while giving birth to more babies.
Population-wise, Bangladesh is the eighth largest and one of the most densely populated nations, with 171 million people (2.2 percent of the global population) and it will be the 10th most populous country with 204 million people by 2050, according to UN projections.
To cause further misery, Bangladesh is one of the world’s most climate-vulnerable nations in the world with frequent floods and incessant rains.
China is reaping a demographic dividend that will help India overtake it by next year. New births in China will fall to record lows this year, below 10 million from last year’s 10.6 million.
China’s fertility rate of 1.16 in 2021 was below the 2.1 OECD standard to maintain a stable population. Besides, it is among the lowest in the world.
The fertility rate in the communist nation is witnessing a reduction with an astronomical rise in the working-age population (25 to 64 years), resulting in accelerated economic growth per capita.
China, the second largest economy in the world, invested in further development of its human capital, by ensuring healthcare and education, which reduced the fertility rate and slowed its population growth, the way the totalitarian government wanted it.
Unless Asian nations mend their ways, they will be committing a crime against humanity by adding more people to their already catastrophic scenario.
Asian religions should take leadership roles in educating members of their communities to learn “when to have children,” as advocated by Guterres as only wealth can ensure the well-being and an advantage for new babies in the current world.
Above all, to make ‘informed choices,’ as exhorted by Guterres, these Asian nations face the stumbling block of inequality, so they lag in health, education, jobs and gender quality, three prerequisite elements to dwarf the fertility rate.
Religions, including the Catholic Church, need to redefine their morality of sex and birth control considering the catastrophic situation of children and the poor. God of no religion would support irresponsible human breeding of poverty and misery.
Sweet words will no more do the magic for Asia and its new generation of babies. The projected Asian population boom call for time-bound actions on the ground. – UCA News
