Voluntary Family Planning: An Investment in Our World's Future

Washington, DC - June 12, 2006

Voluntary family planning programs have been found to be one of the most cost-effective health interventions in the developing world – yet account for less than 2 percent of all official development assistance. Funding worldwide must increase to meet the needs of over 200 million women in developing countries who currently wish to avoid or delay pregnancy but do not have access to modern contraceptives.

Measures of the cost-effectiveness of family planning vary depending on a number of factors, including the stage of the family planning program (initial vs. established) in a given country and the amount per capita that governments generally spend on education and health services. The Guttmacher Institute cites data estimating that, in a typical low-fertility Latin American country, each dollar spent on family planning saves the government $12 in subsequent health- and education-related costs. Similarly, the Center for Global Development estimates the cost effectiveness of long-standing voluntary family planning programs in Bangladesh to be $13 to $18 per birth averted.

Modest investments in family planning programs reduce maternal and infant deaths, increase educational and economic opportunities for women and girls, and enable families to provide more resources – such as food, education, and health care – for each child. By lowering fertility rates and slowing population growth, family planning also achieves these ends at the country level, reducing population-related pressures on economic and natural resources.

Providing access to the modern contraceptives that women and their partners desire would pay huge dividends at every level of society. Rather than a short-term fix for women's health, funding voluntary family planning programs is a long-term investment in our world's future.Voluntary family planning programs have been found to be one of the most cost-effective health interventions in the developing world – yet account for less than 2 percent of all official development assistance. Funding worldwide must increase to meet the needs of over 200 million women in developing countries who currently wish to avoid or delay pregnancy but do not have access to modern contraceptives.

Population Action International (PAI) works to improve individual well-being and preserve global resources by mobilizing political and financial support for population, family planning and reproductive health policies and programs.