[ti:The World at 7 Billion, and Growing] [ar:Jim Tedder] [al:Health Report] [by:www.51voa.com] [00:00.00]This is the VOA Special English Health Report. [00:04.36]The United Nations estimates that the world [00:07.85]reached seven billion people on Monday. [00:11.38]No one can be sure. [00:13.37]The United States Census Bureau does not expect [00:17.65]that to happen until March. [00:19.69]Populations are growing faster than economies [00:23.87]in many poor countries in Africa and some in Asia. [00:28.80]At the same time, low fertility rates in Japan [00:33.38]and many European nations have raised concerns [00:37.96]about labor shortages. [00:40.47]Population experts at the United Nations [00:44.28]estimated that the world reached six billion [00:48.03]in October nineteen ninety-nine. [00:50.98]They predict nine billion by twenty-fifty [00:55.66]and ten billion by the end of the century. [00:59.86]China's population of one and a third billion [01:04.77]is currently the world's largest. [01:07.62]India is second at 1.2 billion. [01:12.32]But India is expected to pass China [01:15.86]and reach one and a half billion people [01:19.18]around twenty twenty-five. [01:21.58]India will also have one of the world's [01:25.13]youngest populations. [01:27.62]Economists say this is a chance [01:31.81]for a so-called demographic dividend. [01:35.36]India could gain from the skills of young people [01:39.55]in a growing economy at a time [01:42.59]when other countries have aging populations. [01:46.33]But economists say current rates of growth, [01:51.17]although high, may not create enough jobs. [01:55.75]Also, the public education system is failing [02:00.84]to meet demand and schooling is often of poor quality. [02:05.81]Another concern is health care. [02:09.05]Nearly half of India's children [02:12.53]under the age of five are malnourished. [02:17.12]Sarah Crowe at the United Nations Children's Fund [02:22.05]in New Delhi says these two problems [02:25.48]"could keep India back." [02:28.12]SARAH CROWE: "That child is unable to really grow [02:31.36]to its ability and will remain in a state of stunting [02:35.40]and not be able to learn when it goes to school [02:38.63]-- when he or she goes to school, [02:40.13]and indeed later earn and really pay back [02:44.61]and pay into the economic and help the country [02:47.65]and the region move forward. [02:49.39]We have, you know, out of every two hundred million [02:52.98]children who start school, [02:54.97]only ten percent complete grade twelve." [02:59.31]Michal Rutkowski is the director of human development [03:03.44]in South Asia at the World Bank. [03:06.13]He says the seven billionth person [03:10.91]was likely to be a girl born in rural Uttar Pradesh. [03:15.74]Uttar Pradesh is one of India's poorest [03:19.37]and most crowded states, [03:21.31]with nearly two hundred million people. [03:24.31]He says reaching seven billion people in the world [03:28.80]is a good time for a call to action. [03:32.44]MICHAL RUTKOWSKI: "I think the bottom line of the story [03:33.84]is that the public policy needs to become really, [03:37.72]really serious about gender equality [03:39.76]and about access to services [03:41.90]-- to combat malnutrition, and to provide for access [03:46.08]to health services, water, sanitation, schooling." [03:49.52]And that's the VOA Special English Health Report. [03:53.36]I'm Jim Tedder.