World Population Growth Poses Security Challenges

-CIA Director cites rise of Asia , changing strategic alliances

- Liberia population To Triple By Mid-Century

Experts put the world's population today at about 6.7 billion people, but by mid-century the best estimates point to a world population of more than 9 billion.  This growing population will cause a migration of people, legally and illegally, across the globe in search of economic opportunity, security and political freedom, according to Washington File.

It also will generate significant regional and global security stresses, says the director of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency.

Speaking at the annual Landon Lecture Series at Kansas State University recently, General Michael Hayden said three significant future trends in global affairs have drawn the attention of U.S. intelligence analysts -- a significant increase in population growth by mid-century, the rise of Asia and especially China and the changing context of the U.S.-European strategic alliance.

Hayden said that one of the many responsibilities of an intelligence agency is to peer occasionally into the future and attempt to determine what trends will develop and what they will mean.  He adds that these trends do not indicate that the United States is declining in power or global influence.

"To the contrary, the United States will remain an international leader -- a force for peace, freedom, and prosperity throughout the world, an engine of economic growth and innovation, and a military powerhouse whose capabilities are unmatched," he said.

But population migrations at a time of rising global populations will place significant stresses on both the developed and less developed world, he said.

"Most of that [population] growth will occur in countries least able to sustain it, a situation that will likely fuel instability and extremism, both in those areas and beyond," Hayden said.  "Many poor, already fragile states -- where governance is difficult today -- will grow rapidly."

For instance, the populations of Afghanistan , Liberia , Niger and the Democratic Republic of Congo are expected to triple by mid-century, and the number of people in Ethiopia , Nigeria and Yemen will be more than double, he said.

"Furthermore, all of those countries will have large concentrations of young people.  If their basic freedoms and basic needs -– food, housing, education, employment, and so on -- are not met, they could be easily attracted to violence, civil unrest, or extremism," he said.

And through global migration, the effect of rapid population growth in Africa, Southeast Asia and elsewhere will be felt in the developed world as well, Hayden predicted.

"Receiving countries, of course, have much to gain from an influx of young workers, particularly because populations are aging rapidly in much of the developed world.  But social integration of immigrants will pose a significant challenge to many host nations -- again boosting the potential for unrest and extremism," Hayden said.