EFFORTS to halve global poverty face being fatally undermined by rapid population growth, says a group chaired by Calder Valley MP Chris McCafferty.

She launched an all-party report in Parliament calling for contraception to be put back at the top of the international agenda.

The Earth's population is projected to grow to between 8bn and 10.5bn by 2050.

It is now about 6.5bn.

Of this, 99% will take place in the developing world and more than 90% in the very poorest countries.

Ms McCafferty said: "World population growth poses serious threats to human health, socio-economic development and the environment.

"We need to ensure that people across the world can access family planning services and supplies, to enable them to choose when and how many children they want to have.

"All women deserve the ability to make the fertility choices we take for granted."

Ms McCafferty, chairman of the Parliamentary Group on Population, Development and Reproductive Health, presented a report to International Development Secretary Hilary Benn.