Population growth putting poverty fight at risk – Bill & Melinda Gates

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has warned that rapid population growth in the poorest countries, particularly in Nigeria and other Africa countries, has put global poverty fight at risk.
The Foundation said China had made an unprecedented contribution to reducing global poverty by lifting 700 million people out of poverty over the past 30 years.
This revelation was contained in the organisation’s Goalkeepers Data Report 2018, released on Tuesday.
According to the report, the population growth in Africa as a whole is projected to almost double by 2050.
This means that even if the percentage of poor people on the continent is halved, the number of poor people stays the same.
If current demographic trends continue, the number of extremely poor people in the world could stop its two-decade decline – and could even rise.
According to the Foundation Cochair, Bill Gates, “the demographics  are a bit different to what most people expect.
You know, the actual total number of births in the world is not going up.
“It’s not more babies being born, but it is babies being born in these poor countries.” In spite the sobering projections, the report expresses optimism that today’s growing youth populations could help drive progress.” It further noted that “investing in the health and education of young people in Africa could unlock productivity and innovation, leading to a “third wave’’ of poverty reduction, following the first wave in China and the second in India.
“Empowering youth means not only feeding them but offering the opportunities of a quality education.” According to this year’s World Development Report, “a lot of schools around the world are not doing a good job of students learning, even if they are doing a good job of providing access.
African schools are particularly weak in terms of learning.”

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