World Population to Grow by 1 Billion in 1990s, U.N. Says

The world population will increase by 1 billion in the 1990s, a rise that may prove catastrophic for the environment, a U.N. report predicted Monday.

The estimate of growth in the world population--now 5.3 billion--outstrips all previous forecasts, the “State of the World Population” report from the U.N. Population Fund said.

The environment and poorer countries, where 90% of the increase will occur, will suffer most as the population increases by three people every second--about a quarter of a million each day, the report said.

“At some point in the not too distant future, the changes (in the environment) may cross the threshold into catastrophe,” it said.

Unveiling the report at a London news conference, the U.N. agency’s executive director, Nafis Sadik, said: “The next 10 years will decide the shape of the 21st Century. They may decide the future of the Earth as a habitation for humans.”

He added: “At the start of this critical decade, the choice must be to act decisively to slow population growth, attack poverty and protect the environment. The alternative is to hand our children a poisoned inheritance.”

The report said that while the industrialized countries have been mainly responsible for damage to the ozone layer and for roughly two-thirds of global warming, the combination of poverty and population growth is causing deforestation and land degradation in the developing world.

The 1990s will see greater growth than any decade in human history with 90 million to 100 million more people each year. During the next century, global population will probably double and could triple, the report predicted.