Some Dimensions of Population and Family Planning: Goals and Means

Abstract

Where population planning and family planning programs converge and diverge are discussed in terms of ultimate arid intermediate goals, and the means by which goals are achieved. Broad variations are found within the ranks of both groups of planning advocates. This variation is both cause and effect of differing levels of concern over the societal consequences of population growth and size and of family growth and size. When degree of concern over population problems is compared with the degree of difficulty of solution regarded as necessary or desirable, a number of instances are found in which the relation is not as expected. This is due in part to the heterogeneity of the goals and in part to ideological considerations affecting attitudes toward means as well as ends.