{"id":9960,"date":"2023-07-10T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-07-10T09:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/populationmatters.org\/?p=9960"},"modified":"2025-09-16T16:58:49","modified_gmt":"2025-09-16T15:58:49","slug":"population-policies-that-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/populationmatters.org\/news\/2023\/07\/population-policies-that-work\/","title":{"rendered":"People power not state power \u2013 population policies that work\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-cover alignfull is-light curved-bottom\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1920\" height=\"720\" class=\"wp-block-cover__image-background wp-image-2295\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/populationmatters.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/GrandCentral_banner.jpg\" data-object-fit=\"cover\" srcset=\"https:\/\/populationmatters.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/GrandCentral_banner.jpg 1920w, https:\/\/populationmatters.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/GrandCentral_banner-300x113.jpg 300w, https:\/\/populationmatters.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/GrandCentral_banner-1024x384.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/populationmatters.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/GrandCentral_banner-768x288.jpg 768w, https:\/\/populationmatters.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/GrandCentral_banner-1536x576.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\" \/><span aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-cover__background has-background-dim-0 has-background-dim\"><\/span><div class=\"wp-block-cover__inner-container is-layout-flow wp-block-cover-is-layout-flow\"><h1 class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-post-title\">People power not state power \u2013 population policies that work\u00a0<\/h1><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-post-date\"><time datetime=\"2023-07-10T10:00:00+01:00\">10 July 2023<\/time><\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"lead\"><strong>Across the world, population growth is slowing, and individuals, communities and our environment are reaping the rewards. In many cases that has come about because governments have introduced policies to address the causes and effects of population growth. Often, people assume \u201cpopulation policy\u201d to mean \u201cpopulation control\u201d, such as China\u2019s one-child policy. The reality is far different \u2013 policies which gave people choice and improved their lives. Our new report looks at a good news story that is rarely told.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Published to mark World Population Day 2023, <em>Power to the people: how population policies work<\/em> reveals the reality of \u201cpopulation control\u201d. Unnoticed, and for decades, governments and other agencies across the world have been implementing population policies focused on improving welfare for individuals and communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>By clearing away the obstacles to people exercising their reproductive rights, they have quietly brought about benefits that are not the product of the exercise of power, but the benefits of empowerment.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Despite the high profile of horrendous abuses such as the one-child policy and forced sterilisation in India in the 1970s, they are aberrations, not the norm. As the United Nations has put it:&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p><em>Some population policies, especially in past decades \u2026 sometimes [used] coercion to ensure widespread adoption of family planning practices \u2026 However, most national population policies were not coercive.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>The reality is very different:&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p><em>In most high-fertility countries, governments have put in place policies and programmes that contribute to lowering fertility levels through various mechanisms, including by reducing women\u2019s unmet need for family planning, by raising the minimum legal age at marriage, by integrating family planning and safe motherhood measures into primary health care, or by improving female education and employment opportunities.<\/em><\/p>\n<cite>United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA)<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>What works<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Power to the people<\/em> emphasises the central importance of ensuring that people have access to reproductive healthcare, including access to family planning.\u00a0Illustrating these points, the report examines four case studies.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Thailand: imagination and dedication<\/strong>\u00a0<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The story of Thailand\u2019s successful population policy has been told many times but has not yet entered the public consciousness. With a total fertility rate (TFR, broadly equivalent to average family size) of six in 1970 and a population growth rate of 3%, the government launched a population programme to ensure that people could access contraception and take advantage of using it. They improved health facilities and access, education and female empowerment.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1023\" height=\"577\" src=\"https:\/\/populationmatters.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Thailand-2bigstock-edited.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-719\" srcset=\"https:\/\/populationmatters.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Thailand-2bigstock-edited.jpeg 1023w, https:\/\/populationmatters.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Thailand-2bigstock-edited-300x169.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/populationmatters.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Thailand-2bigstock-edited-768x433.jpeg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1023px) 100vw, 1023px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Accompanying their work on these basics was an imaginative and popular communications campaign, led by the charismatic Mechai Viravaidya, also known as Mr Condom. From having police distribute condoms (the \u201cCops and Rubbers\u201d campaign) to opening the Cabbages and Condoms restaurant chain, Mr Condom put contraception squarely in the public eye. Today, Thailand\u2019s TFR is 1.3, and it has enjoyed economic growth the envy of its neighbours, arising, according to the World Bank, from <em>\u201ca rapid demographic transition as a result of birth control campaigns, rising prosperity and delayed childbearing for education and careers.\u201d&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Kerala: putting it all together<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>India has a dark history of population control, and while it has made significant strides in protecting human rights, there are still concerns over its \u201cpopulation control\u201d approach. Those include policies in some individual states discriminating against families with more than two children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The southern state of Kerala is an exception, however. During the 1950s, Kerala\u2019s population was growing faster than that of any other Indian state, but by 1987 it had become the first state to reach a \u201creplacement level\u201d fertility rate (ie one at which parents \u201creplace\u201d themselves but population stops growing). Kerala took advantage of relatively high levels of female education for the time and achieved such rapid birth rate decline \u2013 one of the fastest in South Asia \u2013 through early investment in women\u2019s empowerment, healthcare, and non-coercive family planning.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The state has reaped the benefits. In 1978, when its family planning programme was already well underway, Kerala\u2019s per capita income was only $80, far less than the Indian average. However, after slowing its population growth, Kerala has had a much more rapid decrease in poverty than other Indian states. Today, it is one of India\u2019s richest states and ranks first in human development indicators.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Rwanda: from trauma to empowerment<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Rwanda, the most densely populated country in Africa, had one of the world\u2019s highest fertility rates in the 1980s, with each woman having on average 8.5 children in her reproductive life. Reducing population growth with the primary aim of promoting economic development and reducing poverty became a key government target.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In 1994, however, the Rwandan genocide took place, with a million people murdered, in a country with a population of just eight million. Following the genocide and an exodus of millions of refugees, fertility rose amid social chaos and reluctance to see population shrink further. In 2003, the country\u2019s National Policy for Sustainable Development identified the importance of addressing population growth as part of a holistic programme for sustainable development, including ensuring universal education for all children, and equal economic opportunity for men and women.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" src=\"https:\/\/populationmatters.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/stuart-isaac-harrier-Fzi_8QSQGAw-unsplash-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"Photo by Stuart Isaac Harrier on Unsplash\" class=\"wp-image-9961\" srcset=\"https:\/\/populationmatters.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/stuart-isaac-harrier-Fzi_8QSQGAw-unsplash-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/populationmatters.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/stuart-isaac-harrier-Fzi_8QSQGAw-unsplash-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/populationmatters.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/stuart-isaac-harrier-Fzi_8QSQGAw-unsplash-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/populationmatters.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/stuart-isaac-harrier-Fzi_8QSQGAw-unsplash-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/populationmatters.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/stuart-isaac-harrier-Fzi_8QSQGAw-unsplash-2048x1536.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Between 2000 and 2010, \u201cideal family size\u201d in Rwanda dropped from 4.9 to 3.3, while between 2005 and 2020, contraceptive use among married women increased from 17% to 64%. Its TFR of 3.7 is the lowest in the region. Child and maternal mortality have dropped significantly, and Rwanda was one of only two countries in sub-Saharan Africa to achieve the Millennium Development Goals for health.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There is much work still to do. Many local health facilities are church-provided, and, in turn, often reluctant to embrace family planning and hostile to abortion. A 2022 bill to allow girls between 15 and 18 to legally access contraception was rejected in parliament.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Despite the obstacles, and the challenges remaining for this tiny country, categorised as among the world\u2019s Least Developed, the achievements have been remarkable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Costa Rica: paving the way for progress<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>In the past 60 years, Costa Rica has undergone a remarkable transformation. Its GDP per capita grew from $380 to over $12,000, life expectancy climbed from 60 to 80 years, and the fertility rate fell from nearly seven to less than two. Costa Ricans now enjoy much higher standards of education and one of the world\u2019s most effective primary healthcare systems. Nature, too, is flourishing: after years of intensive logging, Costa Rica became the first country to reverse deforestation, and now leads the world in renewable energy use.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the early 1960s, forestry professor Henry Tschinkel and his colleague Alberto Gonz\u00e1lez noticed a link between Costa Rica\u2019s rapid deforestation and the extremely high unmet need for contraceptives among Costa Rican women. Convinced that slowing population growth would simultaneously lift families out of poverty while also relieving pressure on Costa Rica\u2019s natural resources, Gonz\u00e1lez founded the Costa Rican Demographic Association to start promoting and providing family planning services.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Despite never articulating an explicit population policy, the Costa Rican government also played a critical role. Through its family planning programme, the government made contraceptives much more accessible, particularly to rural and low-income communities. Local churches helped distribute contraceptives while minister Padre Carlo hosted a radio show called <em>Dialogo<\/em>, in which he challenged the cultural hesitancy to discuss sex and promoted contraceptive usage.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Through mass communication and home visits \u2013 particularly important in rural areas \u2013 nurses, social workers, and priests explained to couples that having fewer children would enable them to save more money and enjoy more leisure time. Costa Rica now has Latin America\u2019s highest rates of contraception usage \u2013 84% &#8211; and one of the region\u2019s lowest birth rates.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"454\" height=\"646\" src=\"https:\/\/populationmatters.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/Power-to-the-People-cover.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-9934\" srcset=\"https:\/\/populationmatters.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/Power-to-the-People-cover.png 454w, https:\/\/populationmatters.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/Power-to-the-People-cover-211x300.png 211w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 454px) 100vw, 454px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Costa Rica\u2019s progress in demographic terms is remarkable, but that should not obscure remaining challenges. Socially and economically, progress has stalled in some respects, with inequalities continuing to impact on the health and rights of the most vulnerable.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While it would be a mistake to ignore its remaining and significant problems, in a 2021 evaluation, Costa Rica ranked as the <a href=\"https:\/\/ticotimes.net\/2021\/03\/19\/costa-rica-the-happiest-latin-american-country-world-happiness-report-says-2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">16<sup>th<\/sup> happiest place on Earth<\/a>. Like every country, Costa Rica\u2019s story is multi-faceted, and no one factor has driven the gains it has made. It nevertheless serves as an excellent example of how addressing population growth paves the way for women, children, and nature to flourish.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>The picture today<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>These examples are far from the only ones, with countries from South Korea to Bhutan to Kenya having made great strides, as the report describes.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to the UN\u2019s 2021 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.un.org\/development\/desa\/pd\/sites\/www.un.org.development.desa.pd\/files\/undesa_pd_2021_wpp-fertility_policies.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong><em>World population policies report<\/em><\/strong>,<\/a> in 2019, nearly three quarters of governments had policies related to fertility: 69 governments to lower it (including in half of all developing countries), 55 to raise it and 19 focused on maintaining existing levels.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Population Matters\u2019 groundbreaking report, <em><a href=\"https:\/\/populationmatters.org\/resources\/welcome-to-gilead-report\/\">Welcome to Gilead<\/a><\/em>, details how some policies to raise fertility are linked to human rights abuses. Evidence of systematically abusive policies intended to limit fertility is not easy to find beyond India, and while undoubtedly there will be failings and concerns arising under the radar, that should not obscure the positive reality that the majority of population policies are voluntary, empowering and enhance lives.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Let\u2019s spread the good news.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group alignfull has-light-blue-background-color has-background is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Related content<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-popmat-grid grid grid-3\">\n\t\t<div class=\"wp-block-popmat-post-teaser\">\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/populationmatters.org\/solutions\/\">\n\t\t\t\t<h3>Solutions<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"768\" height=\"288\" src=\"https:\/\/populationmatters.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/thomas-young-634092-unsplash_crop-768x288.jpg\" class=\"wp-image-1006\" srcset=\"https:\/\/populationmatters.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/thomas-young-634092-unsplash_crop-768x288.jpg 768w, https:\/\/populationmatters.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/thomas-young-634092-unsplash_crop-300x113.jpg 300w, https:\/\/populationmatters.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/thomas-young-634092-unsplash_crop-1024x384.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/populationmatters.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/thomas-young-634092-unsplash_crop-1536x576.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/populationmatters.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/thomas-young-634092-unsplash_crop.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \/><\/img>\n\t\t\t\t<p>Ending population growth can be achieved through positive, empowering, choice-based actions which improve people&#8217;s lives and bring multiple other benefits.<\/p>\n\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\n\n\t\t<div class=\"wp-block-popmat-post-teaser\">\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/populationmatters.org\/resources\/power-to-the-people-how-population-policies-work\/\">\n\t\t\t\t<h3>Power to the people: how population policies work<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"454\" height=\"646\" src=\"https:\/\/populationmatters.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/Power-to-the-People-cover.png\" class=\"wp-image-9934\" srcset=\"https:\/\/populationmatters.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/Power-to-the-People-cover.png 454w, https:\/\/populationmatters.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/Power-to-the-People-cover-211x300.png 211w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 454px) 100vw, 454px\" \/><\/img>\n\t\t\t\t<p>A 20-page report examining the elements of successful, effective choice-based population policies, with short case studies of four examples &#8211; Thailand, Kerala, Rwanda and Costa Rica.<\/p>\n\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"We take a look at some of the population policies around the world which gave people choices and improved their lives.","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":9934,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[8,9,12,13,16,45,22],"class_list":["post-9960","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","tag-africa-population","tag-asia_population","tag-development","tag-economics","tag-families","tag-womens-rights","tag-world_population"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Population policies that work - Population Matters<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"We take a look at some of the population policies around the world which gave people choices and improved their lives.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, 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