7 Billion and Counting

Yesterday, because of a United Nations declaration that the 7 billionth person in the world's population was likely to be born that day, there was a variety of commemorations around the world.

One of the most reported births was a little girl in the Philippines.  Danica May Camacho was born in a crowded public hospital two minutes before midnight, close enough to November 1st, and was welcomed with a chocolate cake marked "7B Philippines" and a gift certificate for free shoes.  There were pomp and circumstances, a host of photographs, and speeches by local officials. 


Dr. Eric Tayag of the Philippines' Department of Health tempered the moment, later saying that, "Seven billion is a number we should think about deeply...We should really focus on the question of whether there will be food, clean water, shelter, education and a decent life for every child...If the answer is 'no,' it would be better for people to look at easing this population explosion."

These are troublesome words, indeed, because governmental leaders around the world believe that engaging in strict population control measures, such as China's one-child policy, would ease a crisis.  In India, where some 11 million babies per year are aborted, many of them females, there were 7 baby girls that were selected to be designated as the 7 billionth world resident.   According to Time magazine:

In Uttar Pradesh, India — the most populous state in the world's second-most populous country — officials said Monday they would be appointing 7 girls born Monday to symbolize the 7 billion.

India, which struggles with a deeply held preference for sons and a skewed sex ratio because of millions of aborted female fetuses, is using the day to highlight that issue.

"It would be a fitting moment if the 7 billionth baby is a girl born in rural India," said Dr Madhu Gupta, an Uttar Pradesh gynecologist. "It would help in bringing the global focus back on girls, who are subject to inequality and bias."

It took until 1804 for the world to reach its first billion people, and then it hit 2 billion in 1927.  In the 20th Century, population worldwide expanded: 3 billion in 1959; 4 billion in 1974; 5 billion in 1987; 6 billion in 1998.   The U.N. estimates the world's population will reach 8 billion by 2025 and 10 billion by 2083.  But, we've seen population estimates revised upward over the last few years, and there are a number of mitigating factors, such as life expectancy to access to birth control to infant mortality rates.

There are demographic challenges in many areas, where the population is exploding, and it's important that Christians are speaking out on behalf of the sanctity of life - demographic concerns must not outweigh respect for every life.   United Nations policies on population include "family planning", which has a strong abortion component, and it's important that the U.S. does not participate in these global extermination measures.

The strong "population control" agenda could also eventually include the denial of proper, life-sustaining medical care to those who are elderly, as well as the promotion of assisted suicide and euthanasia.   Isn't it interesting that the Bible tells humanity to "be fruitful and multiply".   Multiplication is apparently God's agenda, and he has placed in the context of increased population a great responsibility for Christians - more people mean more people to be reached with the gospel, and it means that there are more opportunities to minister the love of Christ.   

 

The Joshua Project offers these statistics:

• The traditional way missiologists identify people groups is by counting each group once per country of residence. Using this method, there are 16,740 people groups, of which 6,909 are considered unreached. Joshua Project data also allows a view of people groups without reference to country boundaries where ethnicities are counted only once. There are 9,949 ethnic people groups (without reference to countries) identified in the Joshua Project database with 4,193 considered unreached.
• There are 8,092 people groups with fewer than 10,000 individuals; in addition there are 726 for which no population has been reported (but the population is probably small). For all these small groups, the total number of individuals is less than 22,000,000, meaning that 53% of the 16,740 people groups contain only a tiny fraction of the world's population.
• The largest unreached group is the Shaikh, with over 215,000,000 individuals.
• The Mandarin Chinese is the largest people group, being in 82 countries with a total of about 800,000,000 individuals, and with 783,000,000 of those in China.

Jesus said in Matthew 28: "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."    As we recognize our Biblical authority, I believe it includes stewardship over the earth and the residents thereof, being compassionate and concerned for those who don't know Him and taking care of the needs of the less fortunate.