What would it take to accelerate fertility decline in the least

UN Population Division Policy Brief
No. 2009/1 March 2009
UNITED NATIONS ● DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL AFFAIRS

What would it take to accelerate fertility decline in the least
developed countries?

Fast population growth, fueled by high fertility,
hinders the reduction of poverty and the achievement
of other internationally agreed development goals.1
While fertility has declined throughout the
developing world since the 1970s, most of the least
developed countries still have total fertility levels
above 5 children per woman. Furthermore, universal
access to reproductive health, one of the key goals of
the Programme of Action adopted by the
International Conference on Population and
Development (ICPD) in 1994 and reaffirmed by the
World Summit in 2005, is still far from being
achieved and unmet need for family planning2 in the
least developed countries remains high. Thus,
particularly in the least developed countries,
satisfying the unmet demand for modern family
planning methods would reduce fertility, moderate
population growth and have several beneficial effects
on maternal and child health that would contribute
to the achievement of other key Millennium
Development Goals.3 Given the synergies between
improved access to family planning and other
development goals, for every dollar spent in family
planning, between 2 and 6 dollars can be saved in

interventions aimed at achieving those other goals.4
This policy brief provides an overview of fertility
trends and changes in selected indicators of
reproductive health in the least developed countries
and a discussion of the policies that underpin them.5
For purposes of this brief, the less developed regions
include all the countries and areas of the world
except Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, the
United States of America and all countries in Europe.
The group of least developed countries (LDCs) includes
the 49 countries designated as such by the General
Assembly.6 The rest of the countries in the less
developed regions, as a group, are designated by the
term developing countries.
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this document is horrifying... and it goes on..here

http://www.un.org/esa/population/publications/UNPD_policybriefs/UNPD_policy_brief1.pdf