It’s increasingly clear that this is a pivotal moment environmentally—actions taken in the next decade will be critical for the climate and other natural systems that sustain us.
But it’s less well known that this is a pivotal moment demographically. Right now, the largest generation of young people ever is coming of age. Nearly half the world’s population – three billion people – is under the age of 25. The choices those young people make will have a huge impact on their lives, their families and their communities. Collectively, their childbearing choices will help determine whether world population grows from the current 6.8 billion to 8 billion or 10.5 billion by the middle of the century.
Unfortunately, too many lack the means and the power to make real choices. Some 200 million women lack access to family planning services. For countless others, choices are limited by gender discrimination and poverty.
Population growth and the environment are connected, in ways that are complex and profound. And both issues are entangled with inequality—gender and economic.
But if the problems are connected, so are the solutions. By making sure that all people are able to make real choices about childbearing, we can improve human well-being, slow population growth and reduce human impact on the environment.
The good news: we know how to do this. And each of the solutions is something we should be doing anyway: ensuring access to family planning and reproductive health services, educating girls, empowering women, promoting sustainable and equitable development.
Each of these interventions is crucially important in its own right. Together they will help build a future that is sustainable and just.