MADABA, JORDAN, August 22, 2015 (US News): The “new mantra” of the U.N. Population Fund is to keep girls in school until age 18 “in every nook and cranny of the world” to protect their rights and slow population growth, the head of the agency said. Last month, the U.N. said it expects the world’s population to reach 8.5 billion by 2030, 9.7 billion by 2050 and more than 11 billion by 2100.
Babatunde Osotimehin, the executive director of the population fund, said it is important to enable women to control their fertility. “Our preoccupation is how do we ensure that women have the information, the education and … access to services so they can decide the number (of children) they want,” he said. He said women tend to have fewer children if their first one is born after they’ve turned 18.