SHEIKH: With 8 billion global population, it's time to plan sustainably

November 15 was a momentous time in the history of the world: The world population hit the eight billion mark, having grown by a billion people since 2010. The global population is projected to surpass nine billion by the year 2037.

This historical moment calls for celebration because the unprecedented growth is due to increase in human life expectancy, people living healthier and longer due to improvement and advancement in public health, vaccines, nutrition, standards of living and poverty reduction.

In Kenya, with an estimated 50 million people, which translates to 0.6 per cent of the world’s eight billion people, has grown steadily from a population of about eight million in 1963, with improvement on the average life expectancy from 48 years to 67 years.

As at 1963, one in every seven children died before their fifth birthday. However, today, we have tremendously reduced child and maternal mortality and many babies live to celebrate their fifth birthday and many more. This progress, realised over the past 59 years, makes Kenya a country on a path to prosperity, where no child should die before celebrating their fifth birthday and no woman dies while giving birth.

The population of a country is considered as the most important and valuable resource that contributes to its development, if placed at the centre of development planning and harnessed well. At the same time, rapid population growth poses challenges to progress in social and economic development by necessitating an ever-increasing investment to meet the needs of growing numbers.

In addition, continued population growth gives heightened urgency to efforts to ensure economic development while protecting and preserving the environment.

In Kenya, the principal challenges lie in ensuring optimal utilization of the youth’s potential and their contribution towards achieving our nation’s aspirations and goals. About 75 per cent of our population is below the age of 35 years. The demographic dividend due to increase in the youth population relative to adults’ population is an opportunity that arises from demographic transition that happens once in a lifetime as a country’s population dynamic changes.

We are at this moment of our history, as the Covid-19 pandemic has completely disrupted the world order. As a country, we are celebrating these numbers as we battle the question of the youth bulge and the triple threat — teenage pregnancy, new HIV-Aids infections and gender-based violence.

Our resolve to address these challenges is clearly driving the country towards reaping our demographic dividend. A clear path on strategic investment in sectors such as education, universal health, infrastructure, housing, food security, climate change mitigation, science and technology spell a brighter future for Kenya.

As we mark the progress in the world population, we recall that an average woman in Kenya would have a eight children in 1963, but in 2022, she is having three. That means our women have more time to participate in nation building, have healthier children and are realising their full potential.

This progress comes as we mark the third anniversary of the Nairobi Summit on ICPD25 held in 2019, when Kenya made 17 commitments towards advancing the 1994 Cairo Program of Action.

We need to focus more than ever before as we celebrate the eight billion mark. The philosophy of the numbers, if the world must make progress, ought to be seen and viewed as a great opportunity to make it a better place, more habitable, more equal and a place where we have enough resources for everyone as well as take care of our ecosystem while beating the odds of climate change. If we focus on making use of our numbers to build back a better world, there are infinite opportunities for all of us.

We may advance arguments that as nations anticipate the changing population dynamics, there is need for them to a build demographic resilience within applicable laws and moral standards that allows a more sustainable and prosperous world for all. This should not just be for the current generations but also for the future to enable them reap their demographic dividends.

In this regard, we shall be on track on realising the SDGs and the 2030 Agenda.

Going by the discussions and the realities of climate change, at this moment of a world of eight billion people, we must clearly understand each nation’s demographic trends and plan sustainably.

This will mean advancing critical thoughts on the social, political, environmental, and economic factors. Key outputs out of these discussions will provide policy responses that are holistic and responsive to the challenges of our times.

We must call the world to be proactive on youth issues, education, social programmes, health and decency. This will be critical, especially in the reality of the climate change.

To build an inclusive society, we must look into the wellbeing of every citizen. Sustainable solutions to gender issues where, as we strongly build a strong girl, we must also, with same energy, prepare the boy whom this girl will live with in the same society.

The young people, women, the elderly, the differently abled all form a bulk of human capital whose contributions to making the world better cannot be ignored. We, therefore, must strategically invest in this human capital for the good of our society.

As we look towards sustainability, investment in proper policy informed by science and data is key to evidence-based decision making. Sustainability will help stem out the climate crisis whose shocks have hard hit the world populations.

All of us must remain alive to the fact that we owe this planet a positive contribution each day to a brighter future and a sustainable world. We owe every human being a chance to a longer and healthier life thus understanding and planning for future demographic changes is essential to achieving continued progress towards SDGs, while ensuring no one is left behind.

Dr Mohamed A. Sheikh is the Director General of the National Council for Population and Development