ABSTRACT
The urgency of the need to understand the relationships between population and population change and local and global development at the beginning of the twenty-first century is highlighted by the fact that three of the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) of the United Nations (UN), to be achieved by 2015, explicitly deal with a major population concern:
Reducing infant and child mortality (MDG 4), which in its turn will have an impact on MDG 2, achieving universal primary education; Improve maternal health (MDG 5); Combat major diseases, specifically malaria and HIV/AIDS (MDG 6).
