The United Nations welcomed the eighth billionth baby with a message to think about Earth’s future.
António Guterres, secretary-general of the UN, expressed the need to “think ahead” as humanity reached the eight-billion mark.
“As we welcome the 8 billionth member of our human family, we must think ahead. By 2050, the world’s population will be approaching 10 billion,” Guterres said on Twitter.
As we welcome the 8 billionth member of our human family, we must think ahead.
By 2050, the world’s population will be approaching 10 billion.
Action – or inaction – by the G20 will determine whether everyone can live sustainably & peacefully on a healthy planet.
— António Guterres (@antonioguterres) November 15, 2022
In the Philippines, the “symbolic” eighth billion baby is a girl named Vinice Mabansag who was born at the Dr. Jose Fabella Memorial Hospital at 1:29 a.m. on November 15.
The Commission on Population and Development (POPCOM) in the National Capital Region also uploaded photos of Vinice and her mother on Facebook.
Earlier, UN predicted that humanity will hit the eight billion-mark by mid-November this year.
The UN publicized this prediction in its report called “World Population Prospects 2022: Summary of Results.”
“Today, the world’s population is more than three times larger than it was in the mid-twentieth century. The global human population will reach 8.0 billion in mid-November 2022 from an estimated 2.5 billion people in 1950, adding 1 billion people since 2010 and 2 billion since 1998,” the UN said in the report.
Guterres said that this spells out an uncertain future for everyone.
The UN executive cited the G20, a group of countries that comprise the world’s most developed economies, where the fate of the planet supposedly lies.
“Action – or inaction – by the G20 will determine whether everyone can live sustainably & peacefully on a healthy planet,” he said.
Established in 1999, the G20 members represent more than 80% of the world’s growth domestic product or GDP, 70% of international trade and 60% of the global population.
Among the countries that are G20 members include the European Union, Japan, the Republic of Korea, India, China, Indonesia, France, the United States and China.
The country’s POPCOM, meanwhile, hoped that Vinice will be a “symbol” of development in the future.
“We are looking at, particularly the local government units, for the possible interventions that they have to give for these babies and the coming other babies for that matter in terms of health, education, then housing when they grow up,” POPCOM chief administrative officer Lyneth Therese Monsalve was quoted in the report as saying.
