At a UN meeting on world population, a leading Vatican diplomat noted that “current global population dynamics are at a crossroads.”
“Aging populations, low fertility rates, international migration, growing youth populations, and huge disparities in birth rates between countries have fundamentally altered population patterns compared to 30 years ago,” said Archbishop Gabriele Caccia, apostolic nuncio and Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations.
“Population growth is often erroneously cited as a major cause of the increasing number of people experiencing food insecurity, leading to the conclusion that fertility rate reduction strategies could be the answer,” he continued. “Recent decades have shown that this is not the case. Rather, population growth has gone hand in hand with significant increases in food production, demonstrating that it is fully compatible with shared prosperity and the achievement of integral human development for all.”
Archbishop Caccia made his remarks at a UN meeting marking the 30th anniversary of the International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo. At the Cairo conference, the Holy See worked with many Muslim nations to head off attempts to declare an international right to abortion.