ANN ARBOR— On Oct. 12 the world reached 6 billion.
In 50 years, some population experts predict that number
could grow to as high as 10 billion. So, where do we go
from here?

That question is the focus of a panel discussion at
the University of Michigan School of Public Health on Nov.
11. The event will feature four internationally renowned
population experts, including one from the United Nations,
who will discuss at length, “The World at 6 Billion: Where
Do We Go From Here?”

The panel discussion is co-sponsored by U-M Population
Fellows Program and the Population Studies Center. It will
be held 2-4 p.m. at the U-M School of Public Health
auditorium in SPH I at the corner of South Observatory and
Washington Heights.

Presenters include Joseph Chamie, director of the U.N.
Population Division; Ronald Freedman, U-M professor
emeritus of sociology; Dr. Allan Rosenfield, dean of
Columbia University’s School of Public Health; and Sara
Seims, incoming president of the Alan Guttmacher Institute.

Chamie, an expert in population estimates and
projections who has been with the United Nations for 20
years, will speak on “6 Billion: How did we get here?”
and, “Where are we headed?” He has worked on health and
family planning programs in rural India; has taught university courses in population and has served with the
U.N. Population Division in Beirut, Lebanon, and at its
headquarters in New York.

Chamie has contributed a great deal to the U.N.’s
influence in the population arena, said Jason Finkle, U-M
professor emeritus of public health and a leading scholar
of the politics of population.

“Under Chamie’s leadership, the Population Division
has achieved world prominence, not only for its data
collection and population projections, but for calling
attention to emerging world population issues, such as low-
fertility societies and rapid urbanization in the
developing world,” Finkle said.

WRosenfield and Freedman will present their views on
the question, “6 Billion: What does it mean?” Rosenfield,
an expert on women’s reproductive health, will address the
implications of a growing world population for public
health.

Rosenfield, who received his M.D. from Columbia
University, followed his residency in 1966 with a year as
an obstetrics and gynecology instructor at a teaching
hospital in Nigeria and then served as medical adviser for
the family planning and maternal and child health program
of Thailand.

Freedman, the founding director of the U-M Population
Studies Center and now an active professor emeritus of the
center, will discuss his views on the social implications
of current population trends.

Freedman is an expert on demographic transitions in
which countries move from high rates of birth and death to
low ones. He has studied the role of public policies and
family planning programs in populations’ reproductive
behavior and has written extensively on the subject with an
emphasis on Asia.

Seims, who will moderate the discussion, is the
incoming president of the Alan Guttmacher Institute, an
organization specializing in reproductive health research,
policy analysis and public education.

She was associate director of population sciences at
the Rockefeller Foundation in New York, where she worked
with nations on programmatic and policy issues relating to
reproductive health. For three consecutive years, Earth
Times identified her as one of the key players in
sustainable development. Seims is an expert in fertility
research and in international reproductive health
programming.

The Population Fellows Program is a U-M School of
Public Health program that provides overseas internships
and service fellowships to individuals launching careers in
international population assistance. The Population
Studies Center of the Institute for Social Research is a
training center for Ph.D. students and postdoctoral
researchers in social, economic, and anthropological
demography.