4.11 Making Connections

CAN THE UN MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS ENABLE A DEMOGRAPHIC TRANSITION?

Background: The world population reached 7 billion in October 2011. This last billion was added in record time—12 years—as was the billion before it. It is also very likely that the next billion will be added in another 12 years, making this the most rapid period of human population expansion in history. This reality seems counterintuitive, given that fertility rates have been falling more rapidly than ever before. In fact, 40% of the world population lives in nations where birth rates are below replacement level. Most population growth is concentrated in the world’s poorest nations.

Case: You have been given the task of analyzing the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDG)—eight goals for addressing the various dimensions of extreme poverty—in the context of the demographic transition. There are two basic questions:

1. Are the MDGs sufficient to enable developing countries to make the demographic transition?
2. Based on what is achieved by 2015, what should the next step be?

In your report, include the following:

1. A description of the UN MDGs, why they were selected, and what they are intended to achieve.
2. An analysis of the progress toward the MDGs. Will they meet their intended targets by 2015? Why or why not?
3. There has been much criticism of the MDGs, not only based on the assessments of progress toward their achievement, but also regarding how and why they were chosen in the first place. Who are some critics (discuss two) and what are their concerns? Discuss whether you agree with their assessment.
4. In what ways can such global goal setting be useful despite its limitations? Provide some specific examples of how such goals have been/can be used to address population matters.