'Explosive population growth, urbanization pose security challenges'

MUNICH, Germany (Xinhua) - The growth of the population of mankind and urbanization can pose serious security challenges, former German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt said here on Saturday.

Addressing diplomats and military officers here at the Munich Security Conference, Schmidt warned that the explosive growth of population and urbanization might cause security related problems.

The population nearly four quadrupled in the 20th century and is expected to grow further to reach 9 billion by the year 2050, said Schmidt.

"Seemingly, this has nothing to do with security, but if you take a careful look", the huge number of people moving to live in cities can be "tempted" easily than villagers and it could cause security problems.

"If you want to maintain security in cities, you must learn to differentiate between the tasks accomplished by the police force and the tasks to be accomplished by military personnel," he said.

In an earlier interview for the Munich Security Conference, Schmidt said that challenges in security policy had fundamentally changed since the end of the Cold War. He forecast demographic change, urbanization and poverty migration as the challenges for the future. On the whole, these developments affect the national security of Europe as a destination of migration.