by Wolfgang Lutz
Nigerian pupils work on computers at the LEA primary school in Abuja. The school is a pilot site for the "One laptop per child" project. (Source: Reuters)
An optimist about the coming century,
Wolfgang Lutz sees hope in the population numbers and the untold story
they contain: greater investment than ever in our store of human
capital.
In these uncertain times it is easy to be gloomy about our collective future. Financial crisis, pressure on natural resources, food insecurity and climate change combine to cast an apocalyptic shadow on the next 100 years.
Population growth and greater longevity, it is said, are sources of even greater future economic, environmental and developmental problems.
Received wisdom has it that rapidly aiging population on the one hand will put intolerable strain on Europe’s social welfare systems. A predicted doubling in Africa’s population, meanwhile, threatens future famine and arrested development on a continental scale.
Happily there’s good news baked into the demographic cake that demands we re-examine these assumptions. It should give us all a more upbeat view of the future prospects for most societies.
The gloomier predictions around population growth arise from incomplete analyses of future demographic trends based solely on human numbers. They ignore a vital factor, namely education.
Nigerian pupils work on computers at the LEA primary school in Abuja. The school is a pilot site for the "One laptop per child" project. (Source: Reuters)
In these uncertain times it is easy to be gloomy about our collective future. Financial crisis, pressure on natural resources, food insecurity and climate change combine to cast an apocalyptic shadow on the next 100 years.
Population growth and greater longevity, it is said, are sources of even greater future economic, environmental and developmental problems.
Received wisdom has it that rapidly aiging population on the one hand will put intolerable strain on Europe’s social welfare systems. A predicted doubling in Africa’s population, meanwhile, threatens future famine and arrested development on a continental scale.
Happily there’s good news baked into the demographic cake that demands we re-examine these assumptions. It should give us all a more upbeat view of the future prospects for most societies.
The gloomier predictions around population growth arise from incomplete analyses of future demographic trends based solely on human numbers. They ignore a vital factor, namely education.
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