Developing countries with youthful populations may have the opportunity to take advantage of a phenomenon called the “demographic dividend,” when a decline from high to low fertility rates leads to slower population growth and a large working age population. But “age structure alone isn’t going to make it happen,” says Jay Gribble of Abt Associates in this week’s podcast.

“Population-related data from census, surveys, and other administrative data can and must be used for adaptation to climate change,” says José Miguel Guzmán in this week’s podcast from the launch of The Demography of Adaptation to Climate Change. As the devastation from Typhoon Haiyan shows, population density, poverty levels, and even building construction quality can have a huge impact on how vulnerable a particular area is to extreme weather, flooding, and other effects of climate change.

When it comes to coping with the effects of climate change, cities will be a crucial proving ground for adaptation efforts. Over the next few decades, the percentage of the world’s population living in urban areas is projected to increase to 67 percent – 6.3 billion people by 2050, according to the UN. But because three-quarters of the world’s major cities are located on coastlines, the growing percentage of urban residents means more people will be vulnerable to environmental stressors such as sea level rise and storm surges.

“Everyone uses the word ‘empowerment.’ It’s now such an overused word,” says UN Foundation Senior Fellow Alaka Basu in this week’s podcast. “You are empowered if you have a choice of 10 different shampoos in the grocery store; you are empowered if you have 100 kinds of cereals to buy; you are empowered by virtually anyone wanting to sell you something.”

“Maps are inherently compelling because they contain a high resolution of information and most people have really been trained since grade school on how to read a map,” says Population Action International mapping specialist Gina Sarfaty in this week’s podcast.

More than four decades ago, Paul Ehrlich and John Holdren said complacency concerning the impact of human population growth is “unjustified and counterproductive.” More than 200 years ago, Thomas Malthus made the case that “the way we have to reduce the birth rate is family planning and delaying marriage, [thus] expanding the number of years between births,” says Duke University’s William Pan in this week’s podcast.