Anticipating the needs
of 8 billion people and beyond
There is perhaps no greater and more enduring problem facing our world today
than our ability to satisfy basic human needs for the world’s population.
Preparing for our civilization’s future is more challenging than ever given accelerating demands on the
planet’s resources. Consider that between now and 2030 we expect that worldwide population will increase
from 7 billion to over 8 billion people, life expectancies will continue to rise, over 500 million people will
move into cities and over 1.5 billion people will join the middle class.
WHAT WILL IT TAKE TO SUSTAIN
A GLOBAL POPULATION OF
8 BILLION PEOPLE?
How much energy will be needed in India?
How much new housing will be needed in Brazil?
How much food will China need to feed its population?
Those charged with planning for the world’s future must understand future human needs, and develop
plans to meet them. Across both immediate aid programs or longer-term sustainable development
solutions, our ability to close critical gaps rests in part on our collective ability to put high-quality metrics
into the hands of the decision-makers, whether they be leaders in government agencies, NGOs,
foundations, non-profit agencies, academia or business.
The 2013 Report of the High-Level Panel of Eminent Persons on the Post-2015 Development Agenda
acknowledged the importance of information availability for driving accountability and measuring progress.
Forecasting the resources required to better satisfy human needs is foundational knowledge for the entire
UN system, as it will directly influence priorities and inform long-range planning during the Post-2015 era.
However, today’s knowledge of future human needs is:
HIGHLY FRAGMENTED / many forecasts exist, but they are produced by organizations from many different
businesses, governments and think tanks, all operating with different purposes.
HIGHLY VARIABLE / even within a single need in a specific country, there can be a wide variation across
estimates. There isn’t an easy way to compare these forecasts, or understand the different scientific
assumptions that drive different models.
CHALLENGING TO ACCESS AND NAVIGATE / much of the world’s understanding of future human needs
isn’t readily accessible to both public- and private-sector leaders. Alternative future scenarios for any human
need category usually remain in discrete silos, unavailable for purposes of comparison.
Our vision is to help the world prepare to meet the needs of eight billion people by improving the
availability as well as the quality of forecasts for basic human needs.
We are convening the world’s best minds, technology and information to build the most comprehensive
picture of evolving human demand ever created.
A DIGITAL DEMAND COMMONS
FOR BASIC HUMAN NEEDS
There is no silver bullet that will close the intelligence gap, nor one group of datasets that can provide all
the answers. Instead, we are creating an open data project focused on forecasts of human need that will
aggregate intelligence from many sources and create a digital community, a commons, for those
developing and working with human needs forecasts.
Global Demand Forecasts
2015
2020
2025
2030
Select Need
Food
Select Country
India
Additional Data & Models
Discussions
There are many needs important for survival, and many important to achieving basic quality of life. The core
needs we will examine may include water, food, clothing, housing, healthcare, energy, education,
employment, information, technology, and safety & security.
Project 8 proposes to bring these forecasts together into one online community — a “Digital Demand
Commons” — that allows experts all over the world both to contribute and to access this essential
knowledge and to discuss and drive collaboration around it. By cataloging existing human needs forecasts
and methodologies from many sectors in one place for the first time, we will begin to create a body of
knowledge that helps the world prepare to meet the needs of 8 billion people in 2030 while supporting the
community of researchers advancing the science of human needs forecasting.
Our objective is ambitious but attainable. Forecasts of human demand exist. Models of open data are
prevalent. Technology to crowd-source and disseminate data and foster online collaboration has been
proven. Visibility, learning and iteration will drive our progress. We believe the collective curiosity of a
committed partnership can drive the development of assets that will help the world prepare for its future
much more effectively.
LEADERSHIP
Project 8 is being developed by The United Nations Foundation, United Nations Global Pulse and The
Demand Institute, a not-for-profit organization run jointly by The Conference Board and Nielsen.
Project 8 is led globally by NIC COVEY and is guided by six advisors:
DAVID CALHOUN Executive Chairman of Nielsen
KATHY CALVIN President & CEO of the UN Foundation
ROBERT KIRKPATRICK Director of UN Global Pulse
MARK LEITER Chairman of The Demand Institute
DR. ROBERT C. ORR Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations
JONATHAN SPECTOR CEO of The Conference Board
JOIN PROJECT8
A cornerstone of the Post-2015 development agenda is an increased ability to unite public- and
private-sector interests to solve the world’s biggest problems. Project 8 embodies that opportunity to
bring together the unique knowledge, capabilities and assets of public and private sector organizations.
Specifically, the Project 8 team seeks:
• Domain experts with deep experience forecasting future demand for food, which is
where we are starting our journey. We will expand to include other basic human needs over time.
• Technology organizations to help us build the global Digital Demand Commons
• Communications organizations to drive engagement with the Digital Demand Commons
by researchers and producers of data from all 193 UN member states
• Related initiatives that could collaborate and coordinate to accelerate progress
• Foundations, individuals and private sector organizations to contribute financial support
to cover operating expenses for the project
Participating organizations will be contributing to a project of enormous importance to planning work
across the United Nations system, the public and private sector development community and,
consequently, the world.
In addition to public recognition, participating organizations will be able to build an international network
of peer relationships around common areas of interest. Most importantly, we hope, will be the intrinsic
satisfaction of making a lasting impact on the world’s collective ability to meet basic human needs, in the
absence of which so many lives are compromised.
FIND OUT MORE
Get in touch with Nic Covey, Executive Director, Project 8, at +1 513 394 5003 or
[email protected] or Ilze Melngailis, Director, Global Partnerships, UN Foundation,
at +1 212-907-1318 or [email protected]
FOUNDERS
The United Nations Foundation links the UN’s work with others around
the world — mobilizing the energy and expertise of business and
non-governmental organizations to help the UN tackle issues including
climate change, global health, peace and security, women’s
empowerment, poverty eradication, and energy access.
www.unfoundation.org
United Nations Global Pulse is exploring innovative methods and frameworks
for combining new types of digital data with traditional indicators to track
global development in real-time. Global Pulse also forges strategic publicprivate partnerships to secure access to sources of Big Data, state-of-the-art
analytical tools, and expert advisors in the relevant technical fields.
www.unglobalpulse.org
The Demand Institute illuminates the way in which consumer demand is
evolving around the world. We help government and business leaders align
investments to where consumer demand is headed across industries,
countries and markets. The Demand Institute is a nonadvocacy, non-profit
organization and is jointly operated by The Conference Board and Nielsen.
www.demandinstitute.org
COLLABORATORS
GET INVOLVED
Get in touch with Nic Covey, Executive Director, Project 8, at +1 513 394 5003 or
[email protected] or Ilze Melngailis, Director, Global Partnerships, UN Foundation,
at +1 212-907-1318 or [email protected]