This book recounts the successful story of national and international approaches to the population question since the 1960s to the present and of the progress made in reducing rapid rates of population growth and high levels of fertility. It describes the evolution of national population policies by governments, their aims, successes and shortcomings, and subsequently of the emergence of international agencies seeking to reinforce and underpin those commitments. This study draws heavily on documents and sources, and carefully assesses the achievements of the 1974 Bucharest World Population Conference, the 1984 International Conference on Population in Mexico and the several major national and international initiatives that followed them, up to the 1992 UN Conference on Environment and Development, in Rio. It examines the prospects for a new international consensus in population, and the preparation for the International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo in 1994. The text is excellently supplemented with valuable annex materials.
Introduction and Summary. 1. The World Population Situation in 1970. 2. The Development of National Population Policies. 3. National Population and Family Planning Programmes – First Successes. 4. National Population and Family Planning Programmes – Early Challenges. 5. International Assistance in the Field of Population – the Early Days. 6. The World Population Conference, Bucharest, 1974. 7. Falling Birthrates – 1974–1984. 8. The International Conference on Population, Mexico City, 1984. 9. Evolving Perceptions. 10. Population at the Earth Summit, June 1992. 11. The World Population Situation in 1989. 12. Projecting Future Populations. 13. The Unfinished Reproductive Revolution. 14. Effective Family Planning. 15. Preparing for Cairo: the International Conference on Population and Development. 16. Towards a New World Population Plan of Action. Conclusion. Annex A: The World Population Plan of Action, Bucharest, 1974. Annex B: International Conference on Population, 1984: Declaration and Recommendations. Annex C: Tables from State of the World Population, UNFPA, 1993. Tables. Index. Abbreviations.