LONDON / WORLD POPULATION LAUNCH

A UN report says that in five days, the world population is projected to reach 7 billion and that actions taken now will decide whether the future will be healthy, sustainable and prosperous or marked by inequalities, environmental decline and economic setbacks. UNFPA / UNTV

• Categories: News & Features / News Stories / Unifeed
• Video Length: 00:01:56
• Production Date: 26 October 2011
• Asset Language: Original
• Subject Topical: POPULATION; POPULATION DYNAMICS; FAMILY PLANNING
• MAMS Id: U111026a

Description

STORY: LONDON / WORLD POPULATION LAUNCH
TRT: 1:56
SOURCE: UNFPA
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGES: ENGLISH / NATS

DATELINE: 26 OCTOBER 2011, LONDON, UK

Shotlist

1. Wide shot, exterior of the Royal Society with people entering
2. Wide shot, Executive Director entering the room
3. Cutaway, report
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Babatunde Osotimehin, Executive Director, United Nations Population Fund:
“While our world of 7 billion presents a complex picture and a tapestry of trends and paradoxes, there are some essential global trends that we observe.”
5. Cutaway, audience
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Babatunde Osotimehin, Executive Director, United Nations Population Fund:
“Today there are 215 million women of child-bearing age in the world, most of whom are in developing countries who would like to use family planning if they can get it, but they are not getting it. There are millions of adolescent girls and boys in the developing world who have too little access to sexuality education. They also do not have access to counselling and information about how to prevent pregnancies and protect themselves from HIV. We should tear down economic, legal, social and cultural barriers and put women and men and boys and girls on an equal footing in all spheres of life – and put people in the centre of development.”
7. Cutaway, audience
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Babatunde Osotimehin, Executive Director, United Nations Population Fund:
“With planning and right investments in people – particularly young women and men – today, we can make and have thriving sustainable cities and communities, productive labour forces that fuel social and economic growth, youth populations that contribute to the well-being of their societies, and communities where the elderly are productive, healthy, economically secure and have dignity.”
9. Wide shot, press conference

Storyline

With the world population projected to reach 7 billion in five days’ time, actions taken now will decide whether the future will be healthy, sustainable and prosperous or marked by inequalities, environmental decline and economic setbacks, according to a United Nations report issued today (26 Oct).

The world must seize the opportunity to invest in the health and education of its youth to reap the full benefits of future economic development or else face a continuation of the sorry state of disparities in which hundreds of millions of people in developing nations lack the most basic ingredients for a decent life, UN Population Fund (UNFPA) Executive Director Babatunde Osotimehin said in the foreword of the study.

Speaking to the press in London at the report launch, Osotimehin added “with planning and right investments in people, particularly young women and men, today, we can make and have thriving sustainable cities and communities, productive labour forces that fuel social and economic growth, youth populations that contribute to the well-being of their societies, and communities where the elderly are productive, healthy, economically secure and have dignity.”

The UNFPA report, The State of World Population 2011, notes that the record population size can be viewed in many ways as a success for humanity because it means people are living longer and more children are surviving worldwide. But not everyone has benefited from this achievement or the higher quality of life that this implies.