UN General Assembly
1968

14. While I have thus far commented on some of the most acute international issues, there are other major world problems which need equally serious consideration. Much concern has been expressed at the disappointments of the first United Nations Development Decade. The increasing gap between the rich and the poor countries has been viewed with the same concern. While a considerable increase was registered in agricultural production in 1967, with record rice and wheat crops, the race between population explosion and food production still continues. In his introduction to the annual report the Secretary-General has observed: “Still, the population problem remains a major source of anxiety for it has to be viewed in a much wider context than the food population equation” [A/7201/Add.1, para. 69]. And again, "Even if the most optimistic predictions about a decline in the rate of population increase should be realized and even if the most hopeful predictions of a significant increase in food production should come true, millions of people would continue to suffer from malnutrition” [ibid., para. 71].