Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2003. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

Reuters NewMedia - Wednesday October 8, 2003
Patricia Reaney

There are now more adolescents in the world than ever before. Eighty-seven percent of them are in developing countries and one in four lives in extreme poverty.

But in its 2003 "State of the World Population" report, the UNFPA said the baby-boom of the poor countries, the result of high fertility in the past, presents both a crisis and an opportunity to change lives.

"This is a crisis from the point of view of health," said Alex Marshall, who worked on the report. "Young people are at risk from sexually transmitted diseases, from accidental pregnancy and from HIV /AIDS."

Poor health and a lack of education also increase poverty which poses other risks, he told Reuters.

"Poverty is the greatest destabilising factor in our world today. The combination of poverty and lack of hope lays kids open to all sorts of temptations, including extremism," Marshall added.

But the demographic surge in young people and recent sharp declines in fertility in some countries offer an opportunity for economic and social change because the proportion of people of working age will increase relative to the younger or older dependent generations.

"We are calling on national leaders, local leaders, the international community and young people themselves to recognize the crisis and to take advantage of this opportunity," Thoraya Obaid, executive director of UNFPA, told a news conference to launch the report.

"We will have a global crisis if we ignore the needs of young people," she said.

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The report urges governments to do more to meet development goals set at the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in 1994.

Industrialized nations pledged to meet a third of the funds to cover population and reproductive health services, to improve education and other needs in the developing world that were estimated to reach $18.5 billion by 2005.

But so far the UNFPA has only about half of what is required.

"It is less than $10 billion now and less than $3 billion comes from industrial countries," Obaid said, noting that is a small sum compared to what is spent on arms and defense.

Countries including Korea, Thailand, Mexico and Malaysia invested in programs in the 1950s, 60s and 70s and are seeing the benefits now.

Marshall also cited Bangladesh, parts of India, Uganda, Vietnam and Cambodia for their success in family planning or for lowering the rate of HIV infection.

"This is a wake-up call to leaders to listen to young people and acknowledge their needs," Obaid said. "It is a call for governments to increase funding and extend information and services to young people, to support them so they can lead healthy, productive lives."

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