The UNFPA's executive director, Babatunde Osotimehin. Photograph: Paulo Filgueiras/UN Photo
This year the world's population is expected to top the 7 billion mark, with predictions that the figure will rise to 9 billion by 2050. As the global population grows, more people are going hungry. It is estimated that 850 million people worldwide are undernourished, with many suffering chronic hunger and unable to feed themselves or their families.
In areas such as sub-Saharan Africa, some country populations are doubling or tripling every 50 years, intensifying food insecurity at an alarming rate. Rapid population growth impedes efforts to raise income, protect livelihoods and reduce food shortages, particularly in rural areas where food insecurity is often most perilous.
In 2005, a report by the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) concluded that the goal of achieving food security will be more difficult if population growth rates are not reduced, noting: "The economic and environmental costs of augmenting per capita food production may well prove too great for countries whose populations grow faster than their economies, resulting in greater poverty and fewer resources to fight it."
In January, ex-minister of health for Nigeria Babatunde Osotimehin became the new executive director of the UN's Population Fund (UNFPA). While he was in London last week, I asked him what he thinks are some of the key issues driving the debate around population and food security today.
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