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UN / POPULATION 8 BILLION
STORY: UN / POPULATION 8 BILLION
TRT: 02:35
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 15 NOVEMBER 2022, NEW YORK CITY
RECENT – NEW YORK CITY
1. Wide shot, UN headquarters
15 NOVEMBER 2022, NEW YORK CITY
2. Wide shot,
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Maria-Francesca Spatolisano, Assistant Secretary-General for Policy Coordination and Inter-Agency Affairs, DESA:
“The unprecedented growth of the global population is the result of two parallel trends. On one hand, the gradual increase in average human longevity due to the widespread advances in public health, nutrition, personal hygiene and medicine. and on the other hand, the persistence of high levels of fertility in many countries.”
4. Close up, UN spokesperson
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Maria-Francesca Spatolisano, Assistant Secretary-General for Policy Coordination and Inter-Agency Affairs, DESA:
“In order to usher in a world in which 2 billion people can thrive, we need the rapid decoupling of economic activity from the current over reliance on fossil fuel energy as well as greater efficiency in the use of such resources.”
6. Med shot, briefers
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Ib Petersen, Deputy Director for Management at the UN Population Fund:
“We consider this to be a moment of a success story, not a doomsday scenario that we are now 8 billion people. The world is now home to 8 billion people as a result of longer lifespans, lower maternal and child death rates and better health care. But what is truly unique about this moment in history is not the number we have reached, but the unprecedented demographic diversity we now see between countries.”
8. Med shot, briefers
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Ib Petersen, Deputy Director for Management at the UN Population Fund:
“And so we face diverse challenges in our modern world and let's approach finding solutions for them in the same way. Only then can we usher in a future in which all billions of us can thrive with equal rights and opportunities for all.”
10. Close up, journalist asking question
11. SOUNDBITE (English) John Wilmoth, Director of the Population Division, DESA:
“Growth would slow down in almost all of these countries if we achieve the SDGs. More education, greater gender equality, more access to health care, all of these things will help to bring down the fertility rate and therefore slow the rate of growth. That's the process that's been going on as part of our projections. already. It's what we anticipate for the future. But if we want to accelerate the process, investing more in those areas would be critical.”
12. Wide shot, briefing room
As the world’s population reached 8 billion today, UN top officials called the mark “a success story”, but also highlighted the challenges that come with it.
Briefing journalists today (15 Nov), the Assistant Secretary-General for Policy Coordination and Inter-Agency Affairs, Maria-Francesca Spatolisano, noted that “the unprecedented growth of the global population is the result of two parallel trends.”
On one hand, Spatolisano explained, “the gradual increase in average human longevity due to the widespread advances in public health, nutrition, personal hygiene and medicine.” And on the other hand, she continued, “the persistence of high levels of fertility in many countries.”
According to the Assistant Secretary-General, “in order to usher in a world in which 2 billion people can thrive, we need the rapid decoupling of economic activity from the current over reliance on fossil fuel energy as well as greater efficiency in the use of such resources.”
Also briefing reporters, Ib Petersen, Deputy Director for Management at the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), said the agency considers this “to be a moment of a success story, not a doomsday scenario that we are now 8 billion people.”
Petersen said that “the world is now home to 8 billion people as a result of longer lifespans, lower maternal and child death rates and better health care.”
The UN official noted that “what is truly unique about this moment in history is not the number we have reached, but the unprecedented demographic diversity we now see between countries.”
Petersen also said, “We face diverse challenges in our modern world and let's approach finding solutions for them in the same way.”
According to him, “only then can we usher in a future in which all billions of us can thrive with equal rights and opportunities for all.”
John Wilmoth, the Director of the Population Division at the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA), noted that “growth would slow down in almost all of these countries if we achieve the SDGs.”
For Wilmoth, “more education, greater gender equality, more access to health care, all of these things will help to bring down the fertility rate and therefore slow the rate of growth.”
He noted that “that's the process that's been going on” as part of the UN’s projections already.
“It's what we anticipate for the future. But if we want to accelerate the process, investing more in those areas would be critical,” Wilmoth concluded.
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