STUDIES suggest that countries can reduce birth rates significantly, without waiting for development to make an impact, by promoting modern contraceptive methods.

Birth rates are falling in countries too poor for development to have stabilised population growth. Between 1970 and 1991, fertility rates declined from 7 to 5.5 children per woman in Bangladesh, one of the poorest countries. In that period, contraceptive use among married women rose from 3 to 40 per cent.