Population Resource Center Receives a $1 Million Gift from Bill & Melinda Gates

PRINCETON, N.J. -- Population Resource Center (PRC) today announced a $1 million gift from Bill and Melinda Gates to sponsor seminars across the country on the impact of population growth and change on health and environmental conditions in developing countries, and the effect these conditions have on global economic well-being and security.

"There is an urgent need to increase the awareness of all Americans about the impact of world population changes on the health and well being of people throughout the world and its importance to the United States," said Jane S. DeLung, PRC president. "This generous gift from the Gates' will allow Population Resource Center to share its work in the area of international demographic change with community groups and organizations across the nation."

The Gates' grant will support Public Resource Center's effort to organize 80 educational programs for local and civic organizations that will feature world-experts in demography, public health and environment discussing issues such as the status of women, the demographic impact of AIDS, health and urbanization, and the unmet need of family planning.

Global health continues to be the driving factor affecting social and economic conditions at home and abroad. Urbanization, growing labor force participation, and economic development are all affected by population dynamics. More than 80 billion people will be added to the world in 1999. Although Europe, Japan and the United States have a very slow population growth, the rest of the world continues to grow at high rates. The number of cities in the developing world with more than one million people will rise from 173 to 368 by the year 2010.

"With the globalization of economies and the sensitivity of regional conflict, the pressures of growth in developing regions is of vital importance to the U.S. and other developed countries. All of these factors have a global impact," said DeYoung.

Over the last 30 years, one of the major reasons for the high rates of population growth throughout the world has been the remarkable progress in improving the health and well being of people. The United Nation's project that the world will reach 6 Billion people in October, 1999. Some of the consequences of this growth are increased international migration, the rapid spread of AIDS in the developing world, increasing urbanization resulting in stress on public health systems, and the continued spread of malaria.

The Population Resource Center is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the development of sound public policy by promoting the use of accurate population data and its analysis in the decision-making process. With offices in Princeton, N.J., and Washington, D.C., Population Resource Center has worked with leading academicians and other experts for more than 25 years to serve as a bridge between the social science community and the world of public policy.