United Nations population conferences
United Nations population conferences are a series of intergovernmental meetings aimed at addressing global and local population issues, focusing on the implications of population growth and its relationship to quality of life. The first World Population Conference took place in Rome in 1954, primarily serving as an academic gathering to promote research on demographic trends in developing nations. Subsequent conferences, notably the Third World Population Conference in Bucharest in 1974, marked the transition to intergovernmental discussions with representatives from 135 countries, leading to the establishment of a World Population Plan of Action that emphasized resource conservation, women's rights, and responsible parenthood.
The 1984 conference in Mexico City witnessed shifting attitudes towards population growth, particularly among developing nations, as economic conditions prompted a reevaluation of their prior stances. The 1994 International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo further advanced the dialogue by highlighting individual human rights and reproductive health. This meeting established ambitious goals for global population management and called for significant investment to achieve these aims. Follow-up reviews in subsequent years, including those in 2009 and 2019, assessed progress in areas like gender equality and reproductive health, while also identifying ongoing challenges such as poverty and maternal health. Overall, these conferences have played a critical role in shaping international policies and collaborative efforts surrounding population and development issues.
United Nations population conferences
THE EVENTS: Series of periodic intergovernmental gatherings focusing on population issues
DATES: 1954, 1965, 1974, 1984, and 1994
The United Nations population conferences have brought together representatives from around the world to consider the local and global consequences of population growth. The conferences have highlighted shared concerns about population issues and helped coordinate efforts to understand the relationships between population growth and quality of life.
The United Nations first held a World Population Conference in Rome, Italy, in 1954. Primarily an academic conference, it resulted in a resolution to generate more information on the demographic situations in developing countries. The Second World Population Conference, jointly organized by the United Nations and the International Union for the Scientific Study of Population, was held in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, in 1965. Experts in the field gathered to consider fertility as a factor in development planning policy.
The Third World Population Conference in Bucharest, Romania, in 1974 was the first intergovernmental conference of its kind. Official government delegates from 135 countries met to consider demographic issues under the auspices of the United Nations. Experts attended preliminary meetings devoted to the discussion of future trends, economic and social development, resources and the environment, and family units; they then formulated a draft for the World Population Plan of Action.
The United States advocated government sponsorship of family-planning services, which was a new concept. Not all delegates were convinced that population growth was a problem, however. The economic gap between rich and poor nations had widened during the 1960’s, and developing nations wanted more financial assistance from developed nations. Oil prices were being set by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), which, along with a bloc of African, Asian, and Latin American countries known as the Group of 77, wanted to reform international economic exchange. Conflict thus ensued at the Bucharest meetings over the relative importance of population versus development planning. The delegation from the People’s Republic of China argued that population growth was not a problem under socialism, and the leader of the Indian delegation, Karim Singh, coined the slogan “Development is the best contraceptive.” Despite these arguments, consensus was eventually achieved. The revised World Population Plan of Action stressed the importance of conserving and sharing the world’s resources, reducing population growth, protecting women’s rights, and supporting responsible parenthood.
International Conference on Population, 1984
Between 1974 and 1984 the world’s population increased by 20 percent, and 90 percent of that growth occurred in developing areas. This population explosion resulted in a different climate at the International Conference on Population in Mexico City in 1984. Many governments of developing nations had reversed their positions on population growth, as exemplified by China’s aggressive one-child policy. Furthermore, many of these nations were deeply in debt. The most successful East Asian and Latin American developing nations were pursing market-oriented investment strategies with the approval of wealthier countries such as the United States, now under more conservative political leadership. Reducing growth rates seemed useful with or without economic reform.
The biggest surprise in Mexico City was the change in position by the U.S. delegation led by James L. Buckley, a former U.S. senator and then president of Radio Free Europe, who described population growth as a “neutral factor.” The U.S. delegates refused to support population programs that practiced coercion or provided abortions and also argued that fertility would decline in settings with free market economies. The impact of the change in the U.S. position was less than expected, however. Except for the Vatican, there was unanimous consent among the delegates that the primary elements of the World Population Plan of Action should be reaffirmed and extended. The new recommendations included strategies to integrate development and population planning and proposals for local and international efforts to eliminate hunger, illiteracy, unemployment, poor health and nutrition, and the low status of women. There were also recommendations about population distribution and movement, as well as condemnation of unlawful settlements, which reflected increased concerns about population growth’s impact on global stability.
Soon after the 1984 conference, the United States ceased its financial support for the United Nations Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA) and the International Planned Parenthood Federation (this decision was partially reversed only after President Bill Clinton took office in 1993). By 1990, however, most developing nations had family-planning programs.
International Conference on Population and Development, 1994
The International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in Cairo, Egypt, in 1994 echoed the 1974 and 1984 gatherings, but this time the approximately twenty thousand attendees—who represented more than 180 governments, the United Nations, Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and the news media—recognized the importance of reducing population growth. Emphasis was placed on the criticality of individual human rights in population and development concerns. The United States returned to its former position of supporting population growth control, but there were still contentious discussions before consensus was finally achieved on the last day of the conference.
The Vatican actively challenged the rest of the delegates by opposing abortion, cohabitation without marriage, and sexual deviation, although many felt the Vatican’s implicit, more significant goals were to limit female empowerment and access to birth control. Women’s groups lobbied against the Vatican and representatives from some Muslim countries; in spite of the conflict, agreement was achieved on the worth of smaller families and slower growth rates.
The ICPD also produced many firsts. The Vatican approved the final Programme of Action, NGOs played a prominent role at the conference and helped draft the Programme of Action, environmental issues were placed into a population context, and the reproductive health and rights of individual women were accentuated at the expense of demographic goals or a serious consideration of the impact of consumption patterns on quality of life. An estimated $17 billion per year was suggested in order to implement the twenty-year Programme of Action.
In a follow-up debate in the United Nations General Assembly, developing nations in the Southern Hemisphere pointed out that they would need assistance from developed nations to implement the program. Leaders of Southern Hemisphere nations were concerned that increased economic demands might reduce the resources available for existing programs.
A 1999 special session of the U.N. General Assembly conducted a five-year review of the Programme of Action, examining the progress made and challenges encountered. The session established new benchmarks in the key areas of education and literacy, reproductive health care and contraception needs, maternal reduction, and control of human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS).
In 2004—ten years into the twenty-year Programme of Action—the UNFPA conducted a country-by-country analysis of implementation progress. It found that, in general, countries had progressed significantly in areas such as reproductive health, gender equality, and the integration of population considerations with development planning and policies. Remaining challenges included the treatment and prevention of HIV/AIDS and the collection and analysis of data. Another review conducted in 2009 found that, fifteen years into the program, poverty, maternal and infant mortality, and unmet needs for contraception were still urgent problems.
Similar reviews of the 1994 conference were held in 2014 and 2019. The 2019 event, which was held in Nairobi, noted the twenty-fifth anniversary of the 1994 conference. Among the commitments at the 2019 conference was an increased commitment to lowering maternal deaths, ending sexual and gender-based violence, and stopping harmful practices against women and girls.
Bibliography
"Conferences: Population." United Nations, www.un.org/en/conferences/population. Accessed 23 July 2024.
Johnson, Stanley. The Politics of Population: The International Conference on Population and Development, Cairo 1994. Sterling, Va.: Earthscan, 1995.
‗‗‗‗‗‗‗. World Population and the United Nations: Challenge and Response. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1987.
Reichenbach, Laura, and Mindy Jane Roseman, eds. Reproductive Health and Human Rights: The Way Forward. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2009.
Singh, Jyoti Shankar. Creating a New Consensus on Population: The International Conference on Population and World Development. Sterling, Va.: Earthscan, 1998.
United Nations Population Fund. The World Reaffirms Cairo: Official Outcomes of the ICPD at Ten Review. New York: Author, 2005.