Since the Transitional Government of Ethiopia came to office in May 1991, a number of steps have been taken and policy instruments formulated first to rehabilitate the shattered social and economic infrastructure and secondly to lay down a strong foundation for sustainable development in the years ahead. The official adoption of the National Population Policy is an important aspect of this all round exercise.
This policy has for its major goal the harmonization of the rate of population growth and the capacity of the country for the development and rational utilization of natural resources thereby creating conditions conductive to the improvement of the level of welfare of the population. The setting of this broad goal is premised upon the realization and acceptance by the government of the importance of demographic factors in development planning and services.
The task of harmonizing the rate of population growth with the tempo of economic and social development requires the involvement and collaboration of a number of governmental and non governmental agencies. The general objectives specified I the policy cannot be handled without reference to the need for a well defined division of labor among these agencies.
While the publication of this policy represents a significant step towards the attainment of major goals, the development of specific programmes of action and their implementation represent the most important phase of the exercise. This is the point at which domestic and international technical and financial input will prove to be vital.