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: the key to

Family planning: the key to not impossible to achieve at current levels of iii sustainable development growth.

The good news is that there are many positive Summary steps that can be taken to slow population January 2016 sees the launch of the growth such as preventing child marriage, sustainable development goals (SDGs), a set enhancing women’s empowerment and of 17 objectives that will guide international encouraging smaller families. One of the most development until 2030, and the important methods of slowing population International Conference on Family Planning growth is providing access to contraception (ICFP) in Indonesia. and other methods of family planning. Countries across different continents, with Events such as the ICFP are intimately linked very different cultures, religions, resources to the success of the SDGs because and histories have all managed to rapidly movements to increase global access to reduce fertility rates in recent years through family planning are essential to slowing the this method.iv global that makes development goals difficult, if not State of family planning provision impossible, to achieve. Despite its Currently there are over 200 million women importance, aid funding for family planning around the world who lack access to safe is only a small percentage of total aid methods of family planning.v It is estimated spending and has been falling since the mid- that it would cost approximately $6.7 billion 90s. This briefing highlights how almost all of per year to provide universal access to family the SDGs are negatively impacted by rapid planning.vi This is a fraction of total aid population growth and how the entire SDG spending and, according to UNICEF, “family framework could be made achievable by planning could bring more benefits to more universal access to family planning services. people at less cost than any other known technology.”vii Global population growth Total is expected to increase The following are areas of sustainable by one billion by 2030 and four billion by development which are severely impacted by i 2100. The majority of this increase will be in rapid population growth and which could developing countries, many of which will see benefit greatly from increased access to ii their double by 2050. family planning services:

The UK All-Party Parliamentary Group on Economic growth and employment Population, Development and Reproductive (SDG 8) Health (APPGPDRH) reviewed extensive Marie Stopes international (MSI) has found evidence submitted by development that even a five per cent increase in access to academics, professionals and organizations on contraception can boost a small sub-Saharan the impact of this growth on development. African country’s GDP per capita by 35 per They concluded that, much like the failed cent.viii There are many reasons for this. For Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) example, access to family planning means before them, the SDGs would be difficult, if that women have greater control over when,

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Family planning: the key to sustainable development

or whether, they have children and thus they negative impact on poverty reduction and have greater ability to participate in the hunger. Many countries that have managed to workforce and the economy. significantly reduce fertility rates have experienced significant economic growth and Lower population growth as a result of poverty reduction.xiii greater access to contraception also helps redirect government and household spending Fewer job opportunities as a result of rapid away from providing basic services to a population growth also negatively impacts continuously expanding population and poverty and hunger. This is not only because towards more productive investments that people without jobs will find it harder to can boost economic productivity. According to provide for themselves and their families but the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA): also because the increased supply of labour “Where rapid population growth far outpaces reduces wages for jobs that are available. economic development, countries will have a difficult time investing in the human capital These factors help explain why the Overseas needed to secure the well-being of its people Development Institute predict that the and to stimulate further economic growth.”ix numbers of people living in extreme poverty This is why for every $1 invested in increasing in sub-Saharan Africa will increase by 50 access to family planning services, it is million over the next 15 years and why the UK estimated that governments can expect a Department for International Development return of up to $120 in total overall economic (DFID) has recognised that population growth benefits.x represents at least a big a threat to poverty reduction as HIV/AIDS. xiv,xv High population growth can also significantly limit opportunities for employment. Between Gender Equality (SDG 5) now and 2050, the labour force in the Lacking access to contraception means that developing world will increase by 33 thousand hundreds of millions of women worldwide persons per day in countries where already lack the autonomy to decide when, or about 80 per cent of the work force is whether, they have children. This means that unemployed, underemployed or are only much more of their lives will be spent rearing xi vulnerably employed. It would require unintended children and risking death or unprecedented economic growth to provide disability through pregnancy or childbirth jobs for all these people and this seems highly related complications. This limits their ability unlikely in a world where the number of to work outside of the home, to pursue people unemployed globally has increased by education and to participate in public life.xvi xii 54 million since 1990. A much more feasible The UN has found that women’s solution would be to slow population growth empowerment rises as fertility rates fall and through increased investment in family MSI has found that even a small increase in planning services. access to contraception in a country can have positive effects on gender equity. xvii,xviii Poverty and Hunger (SDG 1,2) Economic growth has historically been the main driver of poverty reduction globally and therefore when high population growth inhibits economic growth it can have a

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Family planning: the key to sustainable development

Water, sanitation, energy Health (SDG 3) (SDG 6,7) Healthcare is severely impacted by rapid Rapid and relentless population growth forces population growth. Lack of access to safe governments to direct limited resources to family planning methods and high fertility continuously expanding basic services. Most rates mean that hundreds of women die every developing countries already struggle to day from pregnancy or childbirth related provide clean water, sanitation and energy to complications and this number is likely to xxiii their people and this task is made almost increase alongside population growth. impossible by the addition of one billion more people by 2030. Thus reducing demand for High fertility rates can also affect HIV/AIDS these services is a much more feasible prevalence as the disease is often spread from approach than continuously expanding mother to child during pregnancy. DFID argue supply. that family planning thus offers an effective way of reducing the number of cases of xxiv Not only does slowing population growth disease transmission. make it easier to provide these services, it High fertility rates can also affect infant and also frees up government resources that can child mortality, as children in larger families be used for more productive investments that are less likely to both receive appropriate could boost economic growth, thereby nutrition and to be immunized. xxv,xxvi Women increasing the wealth of the economy and its with larger families are also less likely to be capacity to provide critical services. educated and this is associated with higher

infant and child mortality.xxvii Education (SDG 4) The UN claims that progress made in The spread of communicable diseases is also increasing school enrolment in sub-Saharan affected by . One of the Africa is under threat due to the rapid growth key factors in the unprecedented scale of the of the primary school age population, as 2014 Ebola outbreak was the fact that disease governments are struggling to provide made it to urban areas with high population sufficient schools and teachers - a problem densities.xxviii experienced even in wealthy nations.xix,xx Increased access to family planning services The UN has also identified household can positively impact the above areas but it resources as a key determinant in school will also help reduce the need to expand attendance in poor countries.xxi Thus low health services, thereby saving governments fertility rates and smaller families make it money that can be invested into better more likely that parents will have the healthcare and better quality of life for the resources to be able to send children to already existing population. Even in school. Studies have also shown that, when developed countries family planning has huge poor parents are forced to decide which benefits for the healthcare system. It is children go to school, it is often daughters estimated that every £1 spent in the UK on that are kept at home, which negatively family planning saves the National Health xxix affects gender equality.xxii Service £12.50. Moreover, in a world where many live without adequate healthcare it seems implausible that the SDG target of universal health coverage by 2030 is possible

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Family planning: the key to sustainable development

when global populations is expected to Nigeria. Some studies have even found that increase by one billion people over that same the risk of conflict is proportional to a period. country’s population.xxxiv This is very concerning when a region such as sub- Slum growth (SDG 11) Saharan Africa is already ravaged by conflict By 2050, seven out of 10 people are expected and its population is expected to double by to live in urban areas and a significant 2050. This will have devastating human costs percentage of these people will be living in for the continent but it will also be extremely xxx slums. A rapidly growing population means negative for economies. The World Bank that governments that seek to tackle slum claims that it takes, on average, 14 years for growth must either somehow continuously countries that have experienced conflict to provide more housing or they can invest in a return to pre-conflict economic growth cost effective solution like family planning, trajectories, meaning that population which can lower the demand for housing and growth’s affect on conflict will have dire which comes with all the other outlined consequences for poverty reduction. xxxv benefits for people and the economy. Population growth will also have negative and consequences for global migration patterns. protection of the environment The same factors that cause conflict also (SDG 12, 14, 15) cause people to move in search of better lives As population levels have increased since and therefore, the addition of one billion 1990, global carbon emissions have increased more people over the next 15 years will likely by 50%, marine fish stocks have fallen by 20%, have a significant impact on the refugee and 5.2 million hectares of forest have been lost migrant crisis that Europe is currently facing. every year since 2000 and a substantial This mass migration will in itself have proportion of animal and plant species have significant implications for population and declined in both population numbers and across the continent. distribution.xxxi It will be very difficult to Since 2001, the significant majority of global adequately change these patterns of aid spending has been directed towards consumption, production and in a enhancing security in developing countries world with one billion more people and this spending is dwarfed by global demanding food, fuel and other natural defense budgets.xxxvi For a fraction of global resource. Therefore reducing demand security spending, governments could tackle through family planning services is vital. the problems of conflict and migration at

source, while also providing a desperately Conflict and migration (SDG 16) needed service that will have positive Factors resulting from unsustainable consequences for almost every other SDG. population growth such as diminishing job opportunities, poverty, large youth (SDG 13) populations and increased competition for The greater the numbers of people on the resources have all been identified as playing planet, the greater our collective carbon key roles in conflict, extremism and political emissions. Therefore, confronting climate instability.xxxii,xxxiii These factors can be change will be increasingly difficult in a world observed in many current conflicts, for example the Boko Haram insurgency in

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Family planning: the key to sustainable development

where population levels are increasing by 80 transformative an impact on countries, million people annually. economies and lives as family planning services. Universal access to family planning Developing countries, where most population services could be provided for a fraction of growth is located, produce significantly less total global aid spending and can, among carbon dioxide than developed countries. This other things, help to reduce mortality, fact leads some to argue that population improve women’s empowerment, boost growth is not a major factor in climate economic growth and slow unsustainable change. The problem is that developing population growth. countries deserve the right to grow economically and to increase their Yet funding for family planning services is inadequate and has been falling for decades. consumption and this has historically been We are calling for policymakers to learn from associated with huge rises in carbon emissions. A recent example of this is China’s the mistakes of the MDGs and to increase funding for family planning and sexual and huge increase in meat consumption and reproductive health services to 10 per cent of associated greenhouse gas emissions alongside its impressive economic growth. total official development assistance (ODA). Meeting the unmet need for family planning is Thus slowing population growth though not only a pragmatic approach to achieving increased access to family planning services is central to long-term reduction of carbon the SDGs, it is absolutely critical to their success. emissions.

Research commissioned by Population ihttp://esa.un.org/unpd/wpp/Graphs/ Matters in partnership with Lancaster ii Ibid iii University has found that family planning is http://www.appg- also the most cost effective method of popdevrh.org.uk/Population%20Dynamics%2 0and%20the%20Sustainable%20Development abating carbon emissions – costing only $1.1 xxxvii %20Goals.pdf per tonne. These figures do not include iv http://populationmatters.org/documents/ne the fact that family planning also abates the ighbouring_countries.pdf carbon that would have been emitted by a v http://www.unfpa.org/family-planning non-existent person’s non-existent vihttp://www.prb.org/Publications/Articles/20 descendants in perpetuity as well as the other 10/addingupfpcosts.aspx vii many additional benefits that come with http://unfccc.int/resource/docs/2013/smsn/ ngo/360.pdf family planning services. viiihttps://mariestopes.org/sites/default/files/ Time%20to%20Invest%20Summary.pdf Conclusion ixhttp://www.unfpa.org/resources/population Global population levels have been increasing -and-poverty x rapidly for decades. This trend significantly http://www.copenhagenconsensus.com/publ limited the success of the MDGs and ication/post-2015-consensus-population-and- -assessment-kohler-behrman threatens to do the same for the SDGs.xxxviii xihttp://www.un.org/en/events/povertyday/b Therefore increasing access to family planning ackground.shtml services is vital to sustainable development. xiihttp://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/2015_ MDG_Report/pdf/MDG%202015%20rev%20% There are few, if any, development 28July%201%29.pdf interventions or technologies that can have as

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Family planning: the key to sustainable development

xiiihttp://populationmatters.org/documents/n xxxi United Nations Report eighbouring_countries.pdf http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/2015_M xivhttp://www.odi.org/sites/odi.org.uk/files/o DG_Report/pdf/MDG%202015%20rev%20%2 di-assets/publications-opinion-files/9839.pdf 8July%201%29.pdf xv Potts, M. (2007). Population Growth and the xxxiiwww.dtic.mil/cgi- MDGs, J R Soc Med, 100(6): 256–257 bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA50828 xvi McNay, K. (2005). The implications of the xxxiiihttp://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa for women, girls and /cm201314/cmselect/cmfaff/86/8602.htm gender equality: a review of developing xxxiv Collier, P. and Hoeffler, A. (2004). Greed country evidence. Progress in Development and Grievance in Civil War, Oxford Economic Studies, 5(2): 115–134 Papers, 56: 563 – 595 xvii Ibid xxxvhttp://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTWD xviiihttps://mariestopes.org/sites/default/files/ RS/Resources/WDR2011_Full_Text.pdf Time%20to%20Invest%20Summary.pdf xxxvihttp://eview.anu.edu.au/anuuj/vol6_14/p xixhttp://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/2015_ df/ch06.pdf MDG_Report/pdf/MDG%202015%20rev%20% xxxviihttp://populationmatters.org/2015/popul 28July%201%29.pdf ation-matters-news/report-on-family- xx The Guardian Article planning-and-carbon-emissions/ http://www.theguardian.com/education/201 xxxviiihttp://populationmatters.org/documents/ 5/jul/22/baby-boom-pressure-on-uk- mdgs_briefing.pdf secondary-schools xxihttp://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/2015_ MDG_Report/pdf/MDG%202015%20rev%20% 28July%201%29.pdf xxii Plan Canada Report http://plancanada.ca/Downloads/BIAAG/GirlR eport/2012/BIAAG2012EnglishFullReport.pdf xxiiihttp://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/2015_ MDG_Report/pdf/MDG%202015%20rev%20% 28July%201%29.pdf xxiv Potts, M. (2007). Population Growth and the MDGs, J R Soc Med, 100(6): 256–257 xxv Li, J. and Taylor, B. (1993). Childhood immunisation and family size, Health Trends, 25(1): 16-9 xxvihttp://www.fao.org/docrep/w0073e/w007 3e03.htm xxviihttp://unchronicle.un.org/article/educatio n-key-reducing-child-mortality-link-between- maternal-health-and-education/ xxviiihttp://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/2015 _MDG_Report/pdf/MDG%202015%20rev%20 %28July%201%29.pdf xxixhttp://www.fpa.org.uk/news/continued- cuts-sexual-health-services-resulting- significant-costs xxxhttp://www.who.int/kobe_centre/publicati ons/hiddencities_media/p1_who_un_habitat _hidden_cities.pdf

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