The present and the future of the world population

A subject book exhibition "The present and the future of the world population” timed to the World Population Day runs at the Official Documents Reading Room (room 207) from July 6th to August 5th.

This day was established by the United Nations Development Program Resolution 89/46, paragraph 21 and since 1989 it had been observed annually on July 11^th. This date was chosen deliberately as on July 11^th 1987 the world population had exceeded 5 billion people.

The World Population Day is celebrated with the purpose of attracting the world community’s attention to the urgent issues of demography.

In October 1999 the six billionth world inhabitant was registered. Between 1960 and 1999, the world population increased more than twice. According to specialists’ appraisal, in the first decade of the XXI century the world population increase makes at least 79 million per year, and to 2050 it may make about 9,3 billion people. Today the world population is increasing mostly in Asia, Africa and Latin America which are high fertility countries in spite of the high death rate. The birth rate in Europe is today below the mark that affects the reproduction of population, while the life interval is very high.

The rapid growth of the world population in the XX century has caused a serious anxiety of the world community as the overpopulation affects terrestrial resources and environment, and often brings to nothing all efforts in the field of development. Understanding all gravity of the problem, the United Nations Organization, the Council of Europe, the World Bank and other international organizations perform statistical and methodological activity in the field of population in many countries. As a result of a fruitful cooperation of various divisions of these organizations, national statistical bureaus are being created, population censuses are taking place, and population forecasts are being made.

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) is the leading world institution assisting population. As the biggest population assisting source financed at international level, UNFPA disposes of a fourth of all amount of financial aid on a global scale. It manages the UNO operative activity in the field of population assisting developing countries and transition economies in demographic problems solving.There is the UNFPA office in the Republic of Belarus where a great attention is paid to the question of demography and social life.

The exhibition includes the subject sections as follow:

• The activity of international organizations in the field of population. UNFPA;
• The world population, environment, education and development;
• Population and demographic trends: the world statistics;
• Demographic situation, human and social resources in the Republic of Belarus.

The exposition comprises about 100 documents: books, brochures, periodicals and mimeographed materials most of which are documents of international organizations in the Russian, French, German and English languages.