A recent news item (Business Line, July 18) reported that a `grandfather boom' had created a demographic shock in most Western countries. According to Ms Catherine Rollet, President of the organising committee of the 25th Conference of the International Union for the Scientific Study of Population (IUSSP) the aging of the population had started to affect developing countries too, and will be one of the most important changes of the 21st Century.The world population, which crossed the 6.5-billion mark in July, is expected to hit the nine-billion mark by 2050. Population growth is expected to soar in Asia and Africa.

Rapid urbanisation, particularly in the developing countries, will increase the pressure on the environment, and planners must keep this important fallout in mind.

T. V. Jayaprakash

Palakkad

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