Maximization of income per capita is generally considered the most important objective of economic development programs. Although, by definition, changes in income per capita are determined by changes in total income and population, conscious manipulation of the population variable in order to achieve greater increases in per capita income is commonly considered as being beyond the legitimate domain of economic policy. But population trends are not immutable; policy measures presumably may be devised to influence them in a desired direction. It follows that on purely economic grounds an argument can be made for, or against, an anti-natalist policy by comparing the economic cost of such a policy and the benefits derived from it. In the case of many underdeveloped countries where the desirability of slowing down the rate of population increase, or at least that of avoiding the expected acceleration of that rate, is generally recognized, discussion of the economics of government promoted birth control may be of more than theoretical interest.