The Role of Family Planning in the Reduction of Poverty

Abstract

The prevention of unwanted births would have a substantial economic impact on families living in poverty. Using conservative assumptions the costs of family-planning programs are estimated to average $300 to prevent every unwanted birth that would otherwise have occurred. Over the years however the avoidance of an unwanted child would save the family an average of $8000 in the costs of child care. It would also enable couples to add an average of $600 to their annual incomes over a four-year period by making it possible for some of the wives to work. When all of these savings and added earnings are discounted to the year in which the unwanted births were prevented the total economic benefits average $7800 for every $300 spent on family-planning services. The ratio of benefits to costs is 26 to 1. (authors)