delopment were only beginning to emerge as concerns of the international community.
Demographic data were generally lacking or deficient, as many countries had never conducted a
census. Thus, knowledge of global population trends was limited, while the relationship between
rapid population growth and economic development was only beginning to be explored. Moreover,
fertility and family planning were not generally considered to be appropriate areas for government
intervention. However, by the 1950s, the United Nations had established a programme of
technical assistance in the field of population, focusing on demographic data collection and
analytical studies rather than family planning activities (Gille, 1987). The earliest requests for
technical assistance came from the Governments of Brazil, India, Indonesia and Thailand.
It was in this context that the United Nations organized the World Population Conference
in Rome in September 1954. Unlike subsequent international population conferences, the Rome
conference was a scientific exchange of information. Participants consisted of demographers and
population specialists who did not represent governments. The Conference addressed the entire
gamut of population issues and helped to establish the importance of demographic research for
population policy. The inadequacy of statistics for much of the world’s population was highlighted,
as were ideological differences, particularly between Western countries and representatives of the
USSR, who contended that rapid population growth was only a problem for capitalistic societies
(Macura, 1987). An important outcome of the Conference was its focus on the need to study all
populations in the context of their particular economic, social and cultural conditions. Although the
main emphasis of the Rome Conference was on demographic research and gaps in knowledge, it
also provided a platform for wider concerns, indicating that the importance of global population
trends was beginning to be acknowledged.