BBC Learning English
Words in the News
24

th

October 2011

Countdown to seven billionth baby

Words in the News

© British Broadcasting Corporation 2011

Page 1 of 2

bbclearningenglish.com

Today begins the one-week countdown to 31st October when the world population will
reach seven billion. That's a rise of two billion in less than a quarter century. This report
is from Barbara Plett.

Seven days from now the world's seven billionth baby will be born. That's according to
the UN's projections, and it's using the milestone to take stock of trends in
population growth.

The big question is how long the planet can continue to satisfy the voracious appetite
of its growing number of human inhabitants.

In fact, over the past six decades, the global fertility rate has been cut in half.
Statistically from five children per woman to 2.5. But 78 million babies are still being
born every year, almost all of them in developing countries.

The UN says women in these countries are having so many babies because of poverty,
lack of education, income and access to birth control.

Not only that, they and their children face a high risk of poor health and early death. So
the UN is highlighting the need to boost education and employment opportunities for
poor women: in other words, address the poverty and the demography will look after
itself, as it did in Europe.

Barbara Plett, BBC News, New York

Words in the News

© British Broadcasting Corporation 2011

Page 2 of 2

bbclearningenglish.com

Vocabulary and definitions

projections

calculations and estimates

the milestone

the significant number

to take stock of

to think carefully about something with a view to
developing a policy about it

trends

changes over time

the voracious appetite of

the using up of resources at a very fast rate

fertility rate

average number of children born to each woman

access to

availability of

to boost

to increase and improve

address

find an answer to the problem of

the demography

the high birth rates in undeveloped countries

More on this story:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-15368276

Read and listen to the story and the vocabulary online:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/language/wordsinthenews/2011/10/111024_witn_seven_billion.shtml