Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Rome (Fides Service) – The UN Population Fund presented its State of the World Population Report 2003. According to the report one in five of the people on the earth are aged between 10 and 19 and they are faced with the prospects of early marriage and childbearing, incomplete education, and the threat of HIV/AIDS. Half of all new HIV infections occur in people aged 15 to 24. The report stresses that increasing the knowledge, opportunities, choices and participation of young people will enable them to lead healthy and productive lives so that they can contribute fully to their communities and to a more stable and prosperous world. Today 238 million young people live below the poverty line on less than a dollar a day.
The report stresses the need for education, health information and services all over the world and the necessary to invest in these fields to improve the living conditions of youth.
Nearly half the 6.3 million people n the world are under 25 and 20% of the adolescents are between 10 and 19 and 87% of them in developing countries. There are between 100 million and 250 million street children and 13 million minors which have lost their parents because of AIDS. Half the population affected by HIV are young people and every 14 seconds another young person develops AIDS. UNFPA says the best antidote against sexually transmitted diseases is education. It is estimated that the prevention of one HIV case would save 34,600 dollars in a poor country, where the annual income is less than 1 dollar a day. The report also says that one quarter of abortions every year involve adolescents 15-19 (20 million cases) and that every year 14 million adolescent girls give birth putting their health at serious risk. In developing countries 82 million girls aged between 10 and 17 are married.
AP (Fides Service 9/10/2003 EM lines 31 Words: 396)
