The Role of Family Planning in Poverty Reduction

2007/11/01 by Rebecca H. Allen · 56 citations
Medicine · Social Sciences · #Demographic Trends and Gender Preferences #Developing country #Development economics #Economic growth #Economics #Environmental health #Family planning #Global Maternal and Child Health #Human development (humanity) #Medicine #Millennium Development Goals #Population #Population growth #Poverty #Reproductive Health and Contraception

paper · doi:10.1097/01.aog.0000287063.32004.23

published in Obstetrics and Gynecology 110(5), 999-1002 (Lippincott Williams & Wilkins)

openalex publication_date 2007/11/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/30

Abstract

Family planning plays a pivotal role in population growth, poverty reduction, and human development. Evidence from the United Nations and other governmental and nongovernmental organizations supports this conclusion. Failure to sustain family planning programs, both domestically and abroad, will lead to increased population growth and poorer health worldwide, especially among the poor. However, robust family planning services have a range of benefits, including maternal and infant survival, nutrition, educational attainment, the status of girls and women at home and in society, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) prevention, and environmental conservation efforts. Family planning is a prerequisite for achievement of the United Nations' Millennium Development Goals and for realizing the human right of reproductive choice. Despite this well-documented need, the U.S. contribution to global family planning has declined in recent years.

Cited by

• What works in family planning interventions: a systematic review. [europepmc]
• Differential effect of wealth quintile on modern contraceptive use and fertility: evidence from Malawian women. [europepmc]
• Structural Quality of Services and Use of Family Planning Services in Primary Health Care Facilities in Ethiopia. How Do Public and Private Facilities Compare? [europepmc]
• Traditional Herbal Medicine in Mesoamerica: Toward Its Evidence Base for Improving Universal Health Coverage. [europepmc]
• Demand- and supply-side factors associated with the use of contraceptive methods in Pakistan: a comparative study of demographic and health surveys, 1990-2018. [europepmc]
• Control and prevention of infectious diseases from a One Health perspective. [europepmc]
• The Effect of Women's Empowerment in the Utilisation of Family Planning in Western Ethiopia: A Structural Equation Modelling Approach. [europepmc]
• Women's perceptions about mobile health solutions for selection and use of family planning methods in Karachi: a feasibility study. [europepmc]
• Factors associated with postpartum family planning use in Rwanda. [europepmc]
• Fertility Has Been Framed: Why Family Planning Is Not a Silver Bullet for Sustainable Development. [europepmc]

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• Human fertility at a crossroad
• Describing the roles of civil society organizations in sustaining adolescents’ family planning programs in nine Asian and African countries
• Family Planning and the Burden of Unintended Pregnancies
• Lower infant mortality, higher household size, and more access to contraception reduce fertility in low- and middle-income nations
• FAMILY PLANNING AND POVERTY: BIRTH CONTROL, CONTRACEPTION, SEX EDUCATION, AND POVERTY IN MARSHALL, PARETO, AND WICKSELL