1 Billion People on the Way in ‘90s : Population: The biggest increases will be in the poorest countries, a U.N. official says. Three people are being born every second--250,000 daily.

MANILA —  Earth’s population of 5.2 billion people will increase this decade by nearly 1 billion, the fastest population growth in history, threatening to erase the gains that many countries have struggled to achieve, a U.N. official said Wednesday.

The population is increasing by three people every second, or about a quarter of a million every day, said Nafis Sadik, executive director of the U.N. Population Fund.

In 1990 alone, 90 million to 100 million people, or about the combined population of the Philippines and South Korea, will be added in the world, she said.

The coming decade’s growth of 1 billion will add the equivalent of an extra China to the world’s population.

“The 1990s will see faster increases in human numbers than any decade in history. All that Asian countries have struggled to achieve could be swept away,” she said.

“By and large, the biggest increases will happen in the poorest countries, those by definition least equipped to meet the needs of the new arrivals and invest in their future,” Sadik said in a speech at the weeklong One Asia Assembly in the Philippine capital.

In 1984, population growth was slowing everywhere except in Africa and parts of South Asia, but the decline was not enough, she said. “Today, the situation looks less promising. Progress in reduc-ing birthrates has been slower than expected.”

Unless the trend is reversed soon, she said, the world’s population by the end of the next century probably would reach 14 billion rather than the 10 billion to 11 billion now projected.

She said many Asian governments have declared a determined effort to reduce population growth, but many countries continue to grow at an average of 2% to 2.5% annually.

“One consequence of rapid population growth is to hold back or cripple altogether the prospects of balanced development,” she said. “In rural areas, landholdings are already small, generation by generation they are growing smaller, and their owners poorer. . . . (Population growth) has swallowed up most of the benefit from investment and services.

“We should make a direct and all-out attack on the roots of the crisis--poverty and rapid rates of population growth.”

“Our approach to the problem of rapid population growth should therefore include a strong and determined family planning program as part of a package which includes other types of investments in human resources,” she said.

Nations should not wait to become industrialized before launching population control programs, she said. Indonesia, South Korea and Thailand made great economic strides while at the same time controlling population growth.

“My vision of the future, despite the gloomy statistics I quoted earlier, is quite optimistic,” she said. “Asian countries have shown that population programs can be successful. This is the first step toward a sustainable development.”