She told U.N.delegates and women activists here that the harrowing testimony she heard only underscored for her the point that societies cannot reach their full potential if half the population, women and girls, are oppressed and subjugated.

VOA: standard.2009.09.25

Notably, many object on ethical grounds to the idea of randomly denying half of a population the potential benefit of a new service or initiative.

ECONOMIST: Social science

The OECD predicts that, as the population ages, potential growth will drop, falling below 1% by 2020.

ECONOMIST: Germany��s economic model

Among the working population, few potential employees had the education and skills necessary to support a viable business enterprise.

FORBES: Mobile Afghanistan: How A National Telecom Network Delivers Social Goods