World Population Highlights: Key Findings From PRB's 2008 World Population Data Sheet (PDF: 854KB)
This Population Bulletin is the companion report to PRB's 2008 World Population Data Sheet. The Bulletin highlights key findings from the data sheet on: world population trends, nutrition, environment, HIV/AIDS, urbanization, and migration. (BUL63.3, September 2008)

Forest Conservation and Population Growth Among Indigenous Peoples of the Amazon
Fertility has declined significantly throughout the developing world, and in Latin America total fertility rates have declined by 50 percent over the last three decades, from 5.0 births per woman in 1970 to only 2.5 today. The successes in Latin America however, mask a great deal of regional variation. In countries such as Bolivia, Guatemala, and Haiti, total fertility rates are still nearly 4.0 or higher. Furthermore, in these countries, between 22 percent and 32 percent of women who do not desire another child or want to space their births still have no access to family planning services. Among those with the most limited access to basic reproductive health services are people living in the poorest and most remote communities—on the frontiers of lowland tropical forests like the Amazon and indigenous people living far beyond forest frontiers. (August 2008)

Population's Role in the Current Food Crisis: Focus on East Africa
The prices of agricultural commodities, including staples of many African diets, have risen sharply over the last several years. Since 2005, the prices of maize and wheat have doubled, and the price of rice has now reached unprecedented levels in several East African countries. According to the World Bank, FAO, and USDA, rising prices are likely to persist through 2015. Population plays an important role in the food crisis. In addition to the numbers of people, migration patterns, rising consumption, and HIV/AIDS prevalence affect the demand and supply of food. (August 2008)

PRB Discuss Online: "Environmental Change: What Are the Links With Migration?"
Close to 200 million people are living outside their country of birth. Increasing numbers are refugees fleeing their homeland for another country. Human migration can have rapid and complex impacts on rural and urban environments. At the same time, environmental changes, such as drought and rising sea levels, are expected to force millions more people to migrate. In this PRB Discuss Online, Jason Bremner, program director for Population, Health, and Environment at PRB, answered participants' questions on this topic. Read a transcript of the questions and answers. (July 2008)

Philippines Conference Energizes Integrated Population, Health, and Environment Approaches
The Philippines PHE Network convened the Third National Population, Health, and Environment Conference in March in Tagaytay City, Philippines. The conference, funded by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation and other partners, brought together more than 300 practitioners, policymakers, advocates, researchers, and journalists from across the Philippines and five continents. Participants explored how to scale up the integrated PHE approach in the Philippines and internationally. (April 2008)

Population, Health, and Environment Issues in the Philippines: A Profile of the National Capital Region
This regional profile of the National Capital Region, Philippines, highlights key population, health, and environment indicators and important development challenges for the region. It is part of a PRB series covering select regions of the Philippines. (April 2008)

Population, Health, and Environment Issues in the Philippines: A Profile of Central Visayas
This regional profile of the Central Visayas Region, Philippines, highlights key population, health, and environment indicators and important development challenges for the region. It is part of a PRB series covering select regions of the Philippines. (April 2008)

Population, Health, and Environment Issues in the Philippines: A Profile of Cagayan Valley
This regional profile of Cagayan Valley, Philippines, highlights key population, health, and environment indicators and important development challenges for the region. It is part of a PRB series covering select regions of the Philippines. (April 2008)

Regional Profiles of Population, Health, and Environment Issues in the Philippines
National data can sometimes blur internal, regional differences in population, health, and the environment (PHE). This is especially true in the Philippines, the 12th most populous country in the world. With some 7,100 islands and a highly decentralized government, the Philippines varies considerably from region to region. To help raise awareness of PHE links at the regional level, the Population Reference Bureau has published a new series of regional population, health, and environment profiles for the Philippines. The first three regional profiles cover the National Capital Region (NCR), Central Visayas (Region 7), and Cagayan Valley (Region 2). (April 2008)

An East Africa PHE Network Takes Root
In November 2007, an East Africa Population, Health, and Environment (PHE) network took shape at a conference convened by the Population Reference Bureau (PRB) and LEM Ethiopia, the Environment and Development Society of Ethiopia. The conference, "Population, Health, and Environment: Integrated Development for East Africa," held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, drew field practitioners, policymakers, researchers, the media, community leaders, and advocates from 22 countries and five continents. They explored ways to address development priorities in East Africa through an integrated population-health-environment (PHE) approach. (February 2008)