Even while many countries are grappling with fertility decline, aging populations, and even loss of population, population control advocates intend to use an upcoming UN conference to make fertility reduction a UN priority for the foreseeable future.
A UN commission will meet in April to discuss the implications of “population dynamics” for the new global development agenda that will be launched by world leaders this September.
In the past, the Commission on Population and Development (CSD) promoted contraception in high-fertility regions of Africa and Southeast Asia. This year’s draft resolution seems to repeat that approach.
It notes the “potential development benefits of fertility decline,” citing the possibility of a much-touted “demographic dividend” from lower birth rates. It calls for investments in sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights in multiple paragraphs, and warns of bulging youth populations.