The high birth rate in developing countries will make it "difficult or impossible to meet" the U.N. Millennium Development Goals, the U.K. All Party Parliamentary Group on Population, Development and Reproductive Health said in a report that will be published later this month, BBC News reports. U.K. Member of Parliament Richard Ottaway, the group's vice-chair, said the MDGs -- which include improving maternal health; promoting gender equality and empowering women; achieving universal primary education; eliminating extreme poverty and hunger; ensuring environmental stability; developing a global partnership for development and fighting HIV/AIDS; malaria and other diseases -- are "going to be difficult or impossible to attain without a leveling out of population growth in developing countries." According to BBC News, the global population in the last 100 years has increased from less than two billion people to more than six billion -- the majority of which occurred in developing countries -- and the population is estimated to be about nine billion in 2050. Population growth is leveling off in Asia, Latin America and the Middle East, but growth remains high in sub-Saharan Africa, BBC News reports. Ottaway said that the high birth rate in developing countries undermines the health of adults and children through an increased risk of death during pregnancy and childbirth, poorer infant nutrition and less chance of receiving education. "No country has ever raised itself out of poverty without stabilizing population growth," he said. Adair Turner, former director of the Confederation of British Industry, said an approach to decrease the birth rate in developing countries should include providing education for women and making family planning available (Black, BBC News, 12/8).

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