population growth were achieved Within the next 15 years, the 

 ultimate world population would be 2.5 to 3.0 times larger than 

 present. Thus, efforts to stabilize population size must reckon with 

 long lead times during which the population would continue to grow. 



The current grov.'th rate in population is caused more by a decline 

 in gross death rate than by an increase in birth rates, although both 

 have occurred. That decline, in turn, is attributable to improvements 

 in public health methods (water sanitation, nutritional programs, 

 vaccines, for example), as well as higher living standards and the 

 disappearance of some of the agents of disease and death. The 

 continuing growth in population size underlies many problems and 

 exacerbates almost all others, in many developing countries and 

 increasingly in the industrialized world. It particularly frustrates the 

 goal of elevating living standards in the developing world, a goal which 

 seems largely obviated by projections of a doubling of the present 

 world population by the turn of the century. The greater portion of 

 this increase in population will come from the developing nations, 

 where the rate of growth is some 2.5 percent a year as compared with 1 

 percent in the industrialized countries. This will intensify even more 

 the urgent need for greater supplies of food for the very countries 

 least able to expand their production. 



Reduction in the growth of population, and perhaps its 

 stabilization, appears imperative if developing nations are to 

 attain — and developed nations are to maintain — a level of material 

 existence which provides adequate education, health, and social 

 welfare for all people. A crucial element in the control of population is 

 the desire of individuals to regulate the size of their families. The 

 translation of this desire into actual population control appears to 

 depend upon economic and social incentives for limiting family size. 

 Incentives prevailing in many countries, however, favor the large 

 family. Although it is evident — from the experiences of this country 

 and others — that family planning can be practiced effectively with 

 present contraceptive techniques, fertility control measures which are 

 simpler, more reliable, and cheaper are needed. 



A world which so sanctifies human life as to limit the growth of its 

 numbers will demand not only a better standard of living but also 

 improvement in the health of its people. Indeed, if families are not 

 assured that their offspring will be born healthy and remain so, 

 prospects for limiting family size may be correspondingly diminished. 

 For much of the world, health is still conditioned by two primitive 

 factors: nutrition and protection from parasites. In the tropical belt 

 many people suffer from inadequate nutrition, especially insufficient 

 protein. Malnutrition results primarily from inadequate food 

 production and deficient distribution due to the lack of purchasing 

 power of the poorest fraction of the population. It sometimes results, 

 however, from social customs leading to dietary habits that are 



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