Family planning as a development tool

By Samantha Singson | December 8, 2010

Today at the UN, the Population Division hosted an expert panel on “Fertility, Reproductive Health and Development.”

Taking a de-populationist view, speakers pushed family planning as one of the most “cost-effective” approaches to development as lower fertility increases the female workforce, reduces child dependents and increases per capita income.

Dr. David Canning of Harvard mitigated the utilitarian approach to development. While similarly espousing the benefits of widespread family planning, he conceded that population policies “should not be driven by the pursuit of high per capita income” decided by governments but rather “by well-informed families.”
The panel is a pre-cursor to the Commission on Population and Development scheduled for April 11-15, 2010.

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