The policy of the Save the Children Fund UK

Abstract

The choices available to people deciding on family size are determined by cultural, economic and social considerations. Before any realistic and acceptable action can be advised, which might influence family size and population growth, it is necessary to understand the balance between resource availability and consumption, access to contraceptive technology, and the social and cultural influences under which people live. Any intervention should seek to increase the range of choices available to people and to create the conditions which enable them to afford those choices. It is in the poorer parts of the world that population growth is greatest and choices are most limited. Inequitable resource distribution globally is at the root of high population growth rates in poorer areas. Excessive consumption patterns in the industrialized countries pose as great a threat to the development of a sustainable global environment as do the high growth rates in the developing countries. There is no technological short cut to limiting population growth. For any service, including family spacing, to have a significant impact over a long period of time, it must be delivered through a secure, reliable and effective system to families who fully understand the benefits and the implications, and whose choice is informed and made freely.