pregnancy, according to Caribbean director of the United Nations Population Fund, Mr. K.V. Moorthy.

Mr. Moorthy, in a brief visit to the Island last week, presented Bermuda with a population clock which gives up-to-the-minute data on population growth in 164 countries, including Bermuda.

He noted that with the world population already at 5.4 billion and growing, it is predicted that global population will reach six billion in 1998, more than eight billion in 2050, and almost double that by 2150.

"That is going to have an impact on all countries whether or not the individual country's population is growing,'' Mr. Moorthy told The Royal Gazette . "Every country, big or small, will be affected because of the world growth rate.'' He noted that world population growth had been very high in the past three to four decades, particularly in countries where the status of women is low and literacy is low.

However, he said, the "poverty-breeding-poverty'' cycle could be broken by increasing family planning services "to at least contain the growth rate'' and by improving the status of women.

Giving examples of the success rate of this, he said both Bangladesh and Indonesia had tried to get women involved in community programmes that provided them with skills and opportunities for education and employment.

"Women have to be involved in the decision making for this to work,'' he stressed.

While noting Bermuda's high standard of living and the migratory nature of its population, he said Bermuda's population density would impact upon the Island's environment.

Basing his concern on 1991 Census Report figures which showed Bermuda's civilian, non-institutional population alone (58,460) increased by eight percent since 1980, Mr. Moorthy said one must ask "how long can you protect the environment here''.

He also observed that teenage pregnancy was a problem here as in many Caribbean islands.

He said not only did teenage pregnancy add to the population growth rate, it also denied opportunities for a better life for young parents because they were usually unable to complete their formal education, and therefore became "unemployable'' and "dependent''.

"The poverty-breeding-poverty cycle continues,'' Mr. Moorthy said, adding that family planning and sex education should be strengthened in primary and secondary schools.

He said Bermuda, as other countries, should first try to educate its youngsters to avoid becoming sexually active.

But if this could not be prevented, he said, youngsters should be taught about taking precautions against pregnancy.

The UNPFA is preparing guidelines to help individual countries in Latin America and the Caribbean produce national reports for themselves and for presentation at the 1994 international conference on population in Cairo, Egypt.

Each country has been asked to establish a focal point and national committee to review past programmes and future objectives which will include a national report.

Topics to be discussed at the Cairo conference will include migration, family planning, youth, women's concerns, such as their status in a country and literacy level, communication and information strategies, and overall population dynamics.

The UNFPA's mandate, laid down by the Economic and Social Council of the UN in 1973, is: to build knowledge and the capacity to respond to needs in population and family planning; to promote awareness of population problems in developed and developing countries and possible strategies to deal with those problems; to assist developing countries, at their request, in dealing with population problems; and to play a leading role in the UN system in promoting population programmes to coordinate projects supported by the Fund.

UNFPA is entirely supported by voluntary contributions. Its major donors are Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Finland, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, United Kingdom, Canada, Switzerland, Italy, and Australia.

MR. K. V. MOORTHY -- `Every country will be affected by the world growth rate.'