Population and Development / Reproductive Health
| Key statistics | Key links |
"We will spare no effort to free our fellow men, women and children from the abject and dehumanising conditions of extreme poverty, to which more than a billion of them are currently subjected. We are committed to making the right of development a reality for everyone and to freeing the entire human race from want. (...)"
"We resolve further:
By the year 2015, to have reduced maternal mortality by three quarters, and under-five child mortality by two thirds of their current rates (...)"
Extracts from the United Nations Millennium Summit Declaration (September 2000).
Key statistics
- World population doubled between 1960 and 1999, passing the 6 billion mark in October 1999.
- Global population is rising by about 77 million people a year, with 95 % of this growth in developing countries.
- The UN estimates there would be between 7.9 billion and 10.9 billion people in 2050, with 9.3 billion the most likely projection, depending in part on the effectiveness of family planning programmes.
- At least 350 million couples worldwide lack access to a full range of family planning methods.
- An additional 120 million women would currently be using a modern family planning method if more accurate information, affordable services and appropriate counselling were available, and if husbands, extended families and communities were more supportive.
Key links
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UNFPA Programme Activities
UNFPA core programme areas are: reproductive health of women - including family planning, sexual health and safe motherhood - which helps people achieve their desired family size and enjoy greater freedom in planning their lives, supports the fight against HIV/AIDS and contributes to slower and more balanced population growth; population and development strategies, which assist countries in drawing up policies with population issues built in, help them design strategies to improve the quality of life of their people and assist them to develop their own capacity for population programmes; and advocacy, to promote women's equality, maintain political commitment and increase awareness and resources for population and development. -
Netlinks
Netlinks is a searchable database of Internet resources in population, public health and development from the Johns Hopkins University Center for Communication Program. It includes over 1,100 listings and is updated monthly. It can be searched in the basic mode by country, type of resource, and subject. -
UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs / Population Division
It provides the international community with up-to-date and scientifically objective information on population levels, trends, estimates and projections, as well as on population policies and the link between population and development. -
Population Information Network (POPIN)
POPIN seeks to identify, establish, strengthen and coordinate population information activities at international, regional and national levels; to facilitate and enhance the availability of population information in collaboration with the regional commissions, the specialized agencies and the NGO population community; and to provide a forum for the exchange of experiences among developed and developing countries on population information issues. -
UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs / Statistics Division
The United Nations Statistics Division provides a wide range of statistical outputs and services for producers and users of statistics worldwide. It provides wide ranges of statistics on population and development.