Population Reports. Series M. Special Topics

The signs of environmental stress grow as the world's population increases: worn-out farmlands, eroded hillsides, polluted water, parched grasslands, smoke-laden air, depleted ozone, and treeless ranges. Each year about 17 million hectares of tropical forest vanish--an area the size of Tunisia or Uruguay. Fish catches are leveling off. Cities are clogged with refuse. Water and air, instead of sustaining life, cause disease.

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In the 30 years between 1950 and 1980, the population of the developing world almost doubled--from 1.7 to 3.3 billion. Among the most conspicuous signs of this increase are the growth of cities and, in some areas, international labor migration. Since 1950 the cities in Africa, Asia, and Latin America have been growing more than twice as fast as those in North America and Europe. Some of the biggest cities are growing fastest--by as much as 8 percent each year. At this rate they will double in less than a decade...

Formal population education is designed to teach children in school about basic population issues and, in many cases, to encourage them eventually to have smaller families. Some programs include specific units on human reproduction and family planning, while others do not. National population education programs began during the 1970s in about a dozen countries, mainly in Asia. These include Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, South Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, Sierra Leone, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Thailand, Egypt, Tunisia, and El Salvador...

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