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: Development

News from Population Matters.

  • Family planning gets European funding boost

    Funding for sexual health and family planning from European donor countries increased by 17% between 2016 and 2017, with the UK remaining one of the largest donors. The latest annual…

  • Making migration safe

    On Tuesday, countries from across the world met in Marrakesh to adopt the Global Compact for Safe and Orderly Migration, whose text was agreed this summer, and published on World…

  • How to feed the world without destroying it

    A new report investigates the enormous challenge of feeding our rapidly growing population without further damaging our environment and worsening climate change. [UPDATE: Since this story was written, another major…

  • Running to stand still? Meeting family planning targets.

    A new report shows that the world is still not on track to meet contraceptive use goals by 2020, largely due to lack of government action and funding shortfalls.  Slow progress The…

  • What do declining global fertility rates really mean?

    A new study published in The Lancet has highlighted how fertility rates have declined over the last generation. There are no significant surprises in the report – which uses slightly…

  • Campaigning for more UK aid for family planning

    Access to family planning services is vital to poverty reduction and the success of the sustainable development goals (SDGs). This was the message delivered by Population Matters volunteers, who spent…

  • One step forward, two steps back in African economic development?

    Despite significant progress in recent years, Malawi’s government is concerned that young Malawis will inherit only poverty as economic gains are neutralised by population growth.  Malawi sees an increase in…

  • Tanzanian president: “birth control is for the lazy”

    UPDATE 25 September 2018 Since this story was written, the Tanzanian government has ordered a US health charity to withdraw television advertisements promoting family planning. This worrying development suggests that…

  • Ending child marriage “morally right, economically smart”

    A new report examining the impact of child marriage in Ethiopia has highlighted the many devastating impacts it has on individuals and society. More than one-in-three girls are married below…

  • Population growth – Global South leaders speak out

    While reasons for concern over population growth differ according to specific countries, they all point to one thing: that our global population is continually rising beyond the Earth’s capacity, and…