Today, the world's population stands at almost 6,000 million, with about 80 million people (about the size of Germany) added to the planet each year. With respect to population growth, the world is at a critical point: even though birth rates have declined in most regions, there are more young people than ever before who are about to enter their reproductive years.

The Clinton administration supports a comprehensive approach to stabilizing population and helping to ensure that couples are able to decide freely and responsibly the number and spacing of their children. This approach includes support for voluntary family planning and related health care to reduce child and maternal deaths; preventing the spread of HIV/AIDS; improving the social, economic, and political status of women; and improving educational opportunities for girls and boys.

The administration's population policy is a critical element in our comprehensive strategy for sustainable development, which integrates goals for population and health with those of protecting the environment, building democracy, and encouraging broad-based economic growth.

International Population Policy

Between 120 and 150 million couples around the world want, but do not have access to, quality voluntary family planning services, and even more are without related reproductive health services. Helping couples and individuals to determine freely and responsibly the number and spacing of their children and to address related reproductive health needs are the core objectives of our international population policy.

Our population and development policies also emphasize reducing infant and maternal mortality; preventing transmission of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) with an emphasis on HIV/AIDS; improving the economic, social, and political status of women; reducing the gaps between boys and girls in education; improving men's responsibilities in reproductive health and child rearing; and reducing wasteful resource consumption.

U.S. international population policy is mirrored by the Program of Action that was agreed upon by 180 nations at the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) held in Cairo in 1994. A basic principle agreed to at the ICPD was that implementation of these programs is the sovereign right of each country, consistent with national laws and development priorities, with full respect for the various religious and ethical values and cultural backgrounds of its people, and in conformity with universally recognized international human rights.

An upcoming international forum will provide an opportunity for world leaders to review and appraise implementation of the Program of Action that emerged from the 1994 ICPD. A meeting, hosted by the government of the Netherlands, will take place in The Hague on February 8-12, 1999, in which progress will be evaluated and constraints assessed in order to further implement the Program of Action and determine key future prospects of ICPD goals. As many as 180 countries, as well as parliamentarians, international organizations, the media, and representatives of nongovernmental organizations will be in attendance. The Hague Forum will be followed by a three-day special session of the U.N. General Assembly in June.

International Population Programs

The Department of State provides policy coordination and leadership on international population policies, in close collaboration with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and other U.S. government agencies. USAID is the primary implementing agency responsible for assisting developing countries with comprehensive population and development programs, including family planning, related reproductive health, safe motherhood, and other women's health, child survival, and basic education programs. No U.S. funds are used to pay for abortion as a method of family planning or to lobby for or against abortion.

The United States cooperates with other donor countries on population issues and programs. An example is the U.S.-Japan Common Agenda, which has been ongoing since 1993 and focuses on population, HIV/AIDS, and child health initiatives. The goals of this cooperative effort are to maximize the impact of each country's population and health assistance; increase technical capacity to provide assistance; increase opportunities to share lessons learned; and strengthen U.S.-Japan relations through increased consultation and cooperation at the global and mission levels. Through this initiative, Japan's bilateral assistance for population and health from 1993-2000 will be approximately $3,000 million. Other donors, such as Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and the European Commission (EC), have also considerably increased their funding for population assistance.

The United States also works through multilateral organizations such as the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the World Health Organization (WHO), the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). UNFPA is the world's largest multilateral provider of population assistance. It operates in 150 countries, and complements the bilateral assistance provided by the United States and other governments. UNFPA provides much needed and desired voluntary family planning services, maternal and child health care, and STD (sexually transmitted disease) prevention -- including HIV/AIDS.

UNICEF is critical in supporting maternal and child health programs. UNAIDS leads a broad-based global effort against HIV/AIDS. WHO provides technical assistance for reproductive health programs as well as strong support for contraceptive research. UNDP programs focus on job creation, advancement of women, poverty alleviation, and environmental regeneration. The U.S. State Department supports these efforts, as they are key to helping us implement the ICPD Program of Action.

Aside from working with host countries to help them mobilize greater resources and increase the efficiency with which they use them, the United States is also facilitating increased cooperation among developing countries to help them learn from one another's experiences.

Impact of U.S. Assistance

Through the assistance of the United States and other donors, some countries have already graduated from U.S. population assistance, such as Thailand, Tunisia, and Costa Rica. Substantial progress has been made in increasing use of family planning, despite low levels of economic and social development, in countries like Egypt, Bangladesh, Indonesia, and Morocco.

Less than 1 percent of the federal budget goes to support foreign aid. And only about two hundredths of 1 percent supports international family planning programs. This amounts to $1.44 a year per capita -- less than the cost of one bag of popcorn. It is important to note that Americans do not supply the bulk of assistance to family planning programs in developing countries. Most of these countries pay at least two-thirds of the funding themselves or they receive additional aid from other industrialized nations. Poll after poll shows that the majority of Americans support international family planning assistance. The motivations are as diverse as the United States itself -- improving the health of women and children, enhancing women's status, helping to alleviate world poverty, reducing abortion, stabilizing population, protecting the global environment, promoting economic development overseas, and pursuing the economic self-interest of the United States. For each of these reasons, a continued and strong U.S. commitment to international population assistance is essential.

Stabilizing population is vital to U.S. interests. Economic and social progress in other countries can be undermined by rapid population growth, which reduces the quality and availability of public health services, limits employment opportunities, and contributes to environmental degradation. Aside from promoting internal stability and social and economic progress in other countries, slowing world population growth also benefits our country as part of a long-term strategy that promotes economic development abroad, thereby improving trade opportunities for Americans, and mitigates future global crises.

Global Issues USIA Electronic Journal, Vol. 3, No. 2, September 1998