UN / US Behind International Push for Birth Control

In 1959, a Presidential Committee on US Foreign Aid Programs, chaired by Gen. William Draper, Jr., recommended that the US Gov't should assist countries that requested help in designating programs to deal with rapid popuation growth and that it should support research on the topic.

Excerpt from the report of the 43rd Session;

By the 1960's,...the UN General Assembly had designated that decade as the decade of development, reflecting a growing international consensus that development should be an important objective of UN assistance. Evidence was accumulating that rapid growth population could wipe out the gains accruing to economic development by diverting resources from development to consumption. Modernization, it was felt, required investment not only in capital equiptment but also in human capital, such as health and education. High birth rates and a young population hampered the ability of developing countries to save and invest sufficiently in order to raise the countries per capita income and improve living standards (Coale & Hoover, 1958, Notestein, 1964) ..................

By 1971, the UN Population Committee policy was no longer treated in a cautious and indirect manner, but as an explicit concern.


The UN Dept of Economic & Social Affairs, Population Division: (Once you open this link, be sure to see the "Publications" page;
http://www.un.org/esa/population/cpd/aboutcom.htm

Full Report from 43rd Session;

http://www.un.org/esa/population/publications/contraception2003/Web-final-text.PDF