By MIKE CORDER Associated Press Writer
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) -- Alarmed at soaring birth rates in countries already struggling to feed, clothe and educate their people, delegates from 180 nations opened a weeklong U.N. population conference today.
The 1,500 delegates will discuss how to implement and fund a plan drawn up five years ago at a population conference in Cairo, Egypt.
``Before the dawn of the next millennium, the six billionth human inhabitant of this planet will be born,'' Dutch Health Minister Els Borst said in an opening speech. ``The crucial question is to what extent that child will be able to live a dignified, productive and happy life.''
The plan adopted in Cairo in 1994 calls for universal access to affordable reproductive health services by the year 2015, including family planning, sexual health services and programs for adolescents.
The Hague Forum, the first major step in a review process that will culminate in a special meeting of the U.N. General Assembly in June, began with a minute's silence in memory of King Hussein of Jordan, who died Sunday.
The main attraction on the conference's first day, a keynote speech by first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, was postponed because she was in Jordan for Hussein's funeral. She was to deliver her speech on Tuesday.
While progress has been made on many fronts, national delegations were stressing that funding remains a critical problem.
The Cairo conference produced a 20-year plan intended to increase global spending on population issues to $17 billion by 2000 and to $22 billion by 2015. Current spending is about $10.5 billion, said Dr. Nafis Sadik, executive director of the U.N. Population Fund.