Thirty Years On, Leaders Need to Recommit to the International Conference on Population and Development Agenda

• By John Wilmoth, Director of the Population Division of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) and Julia Bunting, Director of the Programme Division of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).

Thirty years ago, the international community gathered in Cairo, Egypt, for the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) and approved an ambitious plan of action that would change the way the world sees population issues. Today, however, growing inequalities, prolonged crises and a retreat from multilateralism threaten the legacy of this landmark achievement, and progress is at risk of stagnation or even reversal. 

It was not easy for governments to make commitments on population in 1994 given the challenges the world was facing at the time. The negotiations took place amid the AIDS epidemic and heated debates over abortion, while 34 per cent of the global population still lived in poverty. Yet, multilateralism prevailed in Cairo, and 179 governments committed to a groundbreaking Programme of Action that placed population matters and reproductive rights at the centre of countries’ development agendas. The Programme of Action was reinforced by country-level action plans, an accountability framework and an estimation of the resources needed to ensure significant global progress across a range of population issues. 

Many at the time considered the path chosen at the Conference to be controversial. It shifted countries away from top-down demographic planning, instead focusing on human rights and well-being as the central aims of development. Sexual and reproductive health, reproductive rights, gender equality, environmental sustainability and international cooperation were codified as integral to addressing population issues and achieving the development goals articulated by governments. 

Three decades later, the ICPD Programme of Action has proven to be a remarkable success. Maternal mortality has declined by 34 per cent, the number of women using contraception has doubled, and child mortality has been cut in half. Countries around the world have integrated population issues into their development strategies, and the commitment governments made to data collection has allowed policymakers to come to informed decisions about the programmes and policies that offer the greatest benefit to their people.

With the gains from the Cairo conference now in peril, the population and development framework is more relevant than ever. At the end of April 2024, countries will convene to review the progress made on the ICPD agenda during the annual session of the Commission on Population and Development. The demographic context varies widely across the globe. Countries with persistently high levels of fertility are grappling with the challenges of rapid population growth and working to find the resources needed to invest in health care, education and infrastructure. Meanwhile, countries experiencing prolonged periods of very low fertility are facing the rapid ageing of their populations and, in a growing number of countries, population decline.        

While our demographic trends diverge, our fates remain intertwined. Targeted planning and implementation, rooted in human rights principles, can tackle issues on both national and global fronts. Essential to this process is disaggregated data, which reveal where support systems are failing certain segments of society, whether on grounds of gender, race, sexuality, disability or other personal characteristics. Equipped with this knowledge, we can invest wisely in tailored programmes to ensure fair and effective solutions for everyone.

Once again, we need the power of multilateralism to prevail. If we are to meet the Sustainable Development Goals, it is the last mile of progress required to support those hardest to reach that we must focus on. International cooperation is essential for maintaining the momentum of recent decades, extending development gains to the most marginalized and coordinating global action on such issues as climate change and safe migration. Let us protect the legacy of ICPD and ensure that generations to come can enjoy even greater progress. 

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