The Millennium Project - 1997 State of the Future
© Dr. Terry J. van der Werff, CMC

The Millennium Project, sponsored by the United Nations University, began in February 1996 with 200 futurists and scholars from 50 countries participating. In mid-1997, their first report (by the above name) was published by the American Council for the United Nations University under the editorship of Jerome C. Glenn and Theodore J. Gordon.

The following 15 issues were viewed as the key ones facing humankind.

“Although many of these issues and actions are not new, their distillation into one set via a global participatory process of a diverse set of thinkers and policy makers is unprecedented.  It provides a holistic view and range of options on global priorities that did not exist before in one document.  Taken together, these issues and actions will shape the foreseeable future of civilization.”  (from the Executive Summary)

1. Population is growing most where people can least afford to provide the necessities of life.
2. Fresh water is becoming scarce.
3. Rich-poor gap is widening.
4. Threat of new, reemerging, and immune microorganisms is growing.
5. The capacity to decide seems to be diminishing.
6. Terrorism is growing in intensity, scale, and threat.
7. Growth of population and economies interacts adversely with environmental quality and natural resources.
8. The status of women in changing.
9. The severity of religious, ethnic, and racial conflict is increasing.
10. Information technology holds both promise and peril.
11. Organized crime groups are becoming sophisticated global enterprises.
12. Economic growth brings both promising and threatening consequences.
13. Nuclear power plants around the world are aging.
14. . The HIV epidemic will continue to spread.
15. The meaning of work, unemployment, leisure, and underemployment is changing.