There are just over one billion inhabitants in Africa, which represents 15 % of humanity. This colourful crowd, showing its enthusiasm by waving at the photographer, was immortalised in Abengourou in southeast Ivory Coast. The crowd is mostly made up of children and adolescents, and is a reminder that the country is young, with more than 40 % of its population being less than 15 years old, just like the rest of the African continent. In 2010, the country had an estimated fertility rate of 4.4 children per woman, once again representative of the continent?s average (the world average in the same year was 2.5 children per woman). The modernisation and evolution of cultural and socioeconomic preoccupations have caused a gradual decrease in fertility, but it will still take several decades for Africa?s demography to stabilise. Furthermore, the AIDS epidemic currently running rife in the Sub-Saharan area (where 67 % of the 33 million infected people in the world live) and the ravages of malaria will have serious repercussions on the region?s demography.

**The artist: Yann Arthus-Bertrand**

Born in 1946 in Paris, Yann Arthus-Bertrand began a career in cinema as an assistant producer and as an actor. However, his passion for the animal world soon lead him first to become the director of a nature reserve in France and then to the Maasai Mara in Kenya, where he worked on his thesis, at the same time training as a hot-air balloon pilot. As a press report photographer, he has worked with magazines such as National Geographic, Géo, Life, Paris Match, and Figaro Magazine. In 1990, he completed his first documentary work combining photography and video in a project called Good Breeding. One year later, the artist and his team founded the photographic agency ?Altitude?. In 1992, Yann Arthus-Bertrand decided to begin a huge photographic project that would cover the state of the world and its inhabitants ? ?The Earth from Above?. Published in 1999, the associated book was an international success, selling over 4 million copies. In 2006, he enters in the Académie des Beaux-arts [French Academy of Fine Arts]. Since then, he has produced a number of projects aimed at increasing awareness of ecological and environmental issues, such as the well-known films Home (2009) and Planet Ocean (2012). His highly anticipated latest film Human is due to be released in September 2015.