Submission to
APPG on PD&RH
on
Population Growth-Impact on the Millennium Development Goals
by
The International Council on Management of Population Programmes (ICOMP)
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
It is well known that the population growth rate is relatively lower in countries with
relatively higher level of socio-economic development with a few exceptions. So also, in the
two regions – Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia which have most of the poor in the worldpopulation growth rate is correlated with several Millennium Development Goals (MDGs):
higher the population growth rate, higher the child mortality rate, maternal mortality ratio
and proportion of people living on less than $1/day, and lower the ratio of girls to boys in
primary education. Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) show that poor have low
contraceptive use rate, high unmet need for contraception, high child mortality and high
maternal mortality ratio. Gender relations affect both population growth rate and
achievement of MDGs. High HIV prevalence in Sub-Saharan Africa has reduced population
growth rate, although it is still substantial in almost all countries.
The high correlation between population growth rate and socio-economic development,
signified by MDGs, may not indicate causation. In other words, reducing population growth
rate may not autonomously lead to achievement of MDGs and the achievement of MDGs
may not lead to lower population growth rate. This is so because many other factors
intervene in this relationship including policy environment, effective governance, efficient
policy and program implementation, and cultural context.
As shown by the studies of experiences of rapid development in South East Asia (Thailand,
South Korea, Indonesia, and Taiwan), however, the efforts for socio-economic development
and meeting demand for contraception had synergistic impact, each accelerating the progress
towards the other.
A significant proportion of population growth is determined by current contraceptive use and
addressing the unmet need for contraception would significantly reduce population growth
rate1. Therefore, addressing unmet need for family planning in the context of universal
1
In DHS the unmet need for contraception is defined as the proportion of married women in
reproductive age group who are neither pregnant nor amenorrhic want to space or limit the number of
children, pregnant women whose current pregnancy and amenorrhic women whose last pregnancy
was mistimed or unwanted. The total demand for contraception equals the contraceptive prevalence
rate and the unmet need for contraception. This does not include unmet contraceptive needs of
currently not married but sexually active women.
access to reproductive health would accelerate the progress towards achieving MDGs. Not
addressing this unmet need not only violates human rights including reproductive rights but
will delay achievement of MDGs. Addressing unmet need for contraception should,
therefore, be an integral part of strategies for poverty reduction and achieving other MDGS.
2