World population at 6.7 bil., to reach 9.2 bil. by 2050: U.N.+

TOKYO, Nov. 12 Kyodo - A U.N. population report Wednesday estimated the world's population in 2050 at
9.2 billion, up from the current estimate of 6.7 billion in 2008, and predicted
the Japanese population will drop to 102.5 million from the current 127.9
million.

The U.N. Population Fund's ''State of World Population Report 2008'' called for
approaches based on cultural understanding in tackling population-related
problems, including reproductive health and social inequality.
Population growth is expected to take place mainly in developing countries,
according to the report.
Based on country-by-country estimates for 2008, China is ranked first in the
world with a population of about 1.3 billion, followed by India with nearly 1.2
billion and the United States with some 309 million. Japan is ranked 10th,
according to the report.
The report, which is based on the latest data compiled by nations throughout
the world and reported to U.N. agencies, indicates that life expectancy in
Japan is 79.1 years for men and 86.2 years for women, well above the world
averages of 65.1 and 69.6 years, respectively.
The life expectancy for Japanese men ranked second along with Switzerland while
that for Japanese women is the world's highest.
In the least developed countries, life expectancy is 53.6 years for men and
56.0 years for women.
Japan's infant mortality rate per 1,000 live births is three, the lowest along
with Norway, Sweden and Singapore, whereas the world average is 49.
The infant mortality rate in the least developed countries is 87.
The report's release coincides with the 60th anniversary of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights and was published a few days before the
International Day for Tolerance. It calls for culturally sensitive approaches
to tackling population-related problems.
The report, subtitled ''Reaching Common Ground: Culture, Gender and Human
Rights,'' stresses that gender inequality and abuse of women's rights remain
widespread and deeply rooted in many cultures despite some progress over the
past decade.
For example, women and girls comprise three-fifths of the world's 1 billion
poorest people, the report said. Women account for two-thirds of the 960
million adults worldwide who cannot read, and girls for 70 percent of the 130
million children not in school, it said.
The report said reproductive health problems remain the leading cause of health
hazards and death for women of childbearing age worldwide, while maternal
mortality rates mirror the huge discrepancies between the haves and have-nots
within societies and between countries.
The total number of maternal deaths in developed regions was 960 in 2005,
whereas the number in Sub-Saharan Africa was 270,000, according to the report.
The world total of maternal deaths was 536,000, effectively unchanged since the
1980s at about 536,000. The 2000 U.N. Millennium Development Goals aim to
reduce the maternal mortality ratio by 75 percent from 1990 levels by 2015.
The director of the U.N. Population Fund's Tokyo Office, Kiyoko Ikegami, noted
that individual behavior is greatly influenced by cultural background and that
this influence affects population issues.
''Even if a woman has knowledge of reproductive health and hopes to practice
family planning or spacing childbirths, she is not able to act because of
cultural constraints,'' Ikegami said at a press conference in Tokyo before the
report's release.
The report calls for using a ''culture lens,'' a tool for implementing
culturally sensitive approaches, to help develop the cultural fluency needed
for negotiating, persuading and cultivating cultural acceptance and ownership
to promote sexual and reproductive health.
Ikegami said the presence of skilled professionals during child delivery is
essential to lowering the mortality rate of mothers and infants.
==Kyodo