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UN / POVERTY REDUCTION
STORY: UN / POVERTY REDUCTION
TRT: 3.19
SOURCE: UNTV / WORLD BANK / UNICEF
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 1 APRIL 2009, NEW YORK CITY / FILE
RECENT 2009, NEW YORK CITY
1. Wide shot, exterior, United Nations headquarters
1 APRIL 2009, NEW YORK CITY / FILE
2. Wide shot, Press conference
3. SOUNDBITE (English) David Canning, Harvard School of Public Health:
“Low fertility reduces the youth dependency rate, this will also increase the number of people in the working age portion of the age structure. So by reducing fertility you have an effect on the age structure, increasing the number of working age people per capita, and output per capita. So there is a boost to economic growth purely through an age structure effect. But in addition, low fertility has behavioral consequences, so by lowering fertility we see an increase in female labor supply particularly in urban areas in developing countries. So when fertility goes down female labor supply goes up and we have another beneficial effect on economic growth and poverty reduction.”
4. Cutaway, journalists
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Jean-Pierre Guengant, Institut de Recherche pour le Dévelopment, France:
“One could say that the war, the famines and even AIDS is not enough to have as much impact as the impact of persistent high fertility levels. So, of course, there are still many deaths caused by famine, caused by AIDS, caused by civil war and especially the civilians who die because these wars, but compared to persistent high fertility which makes the population doubling every 20 years that’s only a small impact on the total growth, and never forget that thanks to the progress made, mortality globally has decreased by half more or less over the past fifty years.”
6. Cutaway, photographer.
7. SOUNDBITE (English) David Canning, Harvard School of Public Health:
“There’s been a very rapid reduction in infant mortality in Africa, it’s one, I think, of the biggest health success stories, and that reduction in infant mortality is leading to a population boom in Africa. We see large numbers of children and high youth dependency rates. But the reduction in infant mortality is actually one of the driving forces towards low fertility. When women see that their children survive it actually motivates them to have less children. So one of the reasons people are having lots of children is that so many are dieing. So, there is a correction which takes some time and we’re seeing now in India total fertility rates are down below three, and I think the same will happen in Africa but it’s going to take quite a while and is dependent on the provision of family planning services.”
FILE – WORLD BANK – 2003, KIBERA, NAIROBI, KENYA
8. Tilt up, from slum area to school kids
9. Wide shot, lady carrying mattress in slum
10. Wide shot, market
FILE – WORLD BANK – 2008, MUMBAI, INDIA
11. Zoom out, from lady in shack to residential area
12. Various shots, traffic
13. Tilt up, from traffic to boy clearing drain
FILE – CHONGQUING, CHINA, 2008
14. Various shots, pedestrian area
15. Wide shot, cable car and view of the city
FILE – UNICEF – 8 NOVEMBER 2008, SANTA LUCIA, GUATEMALA
16. Med shot, mother breastfeeding
17. Med shot, mother and son
18. Wide shot, family portrait
experts said today at the United Nations.
Experts meeting on population and development at the United Nations today said that rapid population growth, fueled by high fertility, presents a barrier to reducing poverty levels and reaching other internationally agreed development goals.
At a press conference on the side of a meeting of the Commission on Population and Development, David Canning, from the Harvard School of Public Health said that by reducing fertility you had an effect on the age structure, increasing the number of working age people per capita, and output per capita.
Canning said that benefits to economic growth also occurred as lowering fertility leads to an increase in the supply of female labor, particularly in urban areas in developing countries.
According to a the Population Division of the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA), although birth rates have been on the slide across the developing world since the 1970s, women in most of the least developed countries (LDCs) still have five children each on average.
The lack of access to family planning and to modern methods of contraception is the major cause of this persistence in high fertility.
Jean-Pierre Guengant, from the Institute of Research for development (Institut de Recherche pour le Dévelopment, France) said that war, famines and even AIDS compared to persistent high fertility which made the population “doubling every 20 years” had only a small impact on total growth.
Canning noted that one of the biggest success stories in Africa was the very rapid reduction in infant mortality, adding that that reduction was leading to a population boom in Africa.
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