Sensoa International
  • Home
  • Wat we doen
  • Partners
  • Parlementaire groep
  • Nieuws
  • Page d'accueil
  • Ce que nous faisons
  • Partenaires
  • Groupe parlementaire
  • Actualité
  • Homepage
  • What we do
  • Our partners
  • All-party parliamentary group
  • News
  • Home
  • Wat we doen
  • Partners
  • Parlementaire groep
  • Nieuws
  • Page d'accueil
  • Ce que nous faisons
  • Partenaires
  • Groupe parlementaire
  • Actualité
  • Homepage
  • What we do
  • Our partners
  • All-party parliamentary group
  • News

Millions of people have more children than they want

13/11/2018

 
PictureSWOP 2018. Copyright: UNFPA
The power to choose. That is the central theme of the 2018 State of the World Population (SWOP), the annual report of the UN fund on population, UNFPA, which was presented in the Belgian parliament on Nov 8th.

​Individuals and couples need to be able to choose if, when and how many children they want. It sounds simple but it’s not. Reproductive rights are violated when health services are not able to provide essential care and means, such as contraceptives, or when women and young people have no access to information about relationships and sexuality. In these cases it is hard to prevent unplanned pregnancies.  

Desire to have children
Reproductive rights are also about realising one’s desire to have children. Economic barriers can undermine this right. Joblessness, poverty and/or under-paid jobs and lack of affordable nurseries can explain why people refrain from realising their desire to have a child. Institutional, economic and social factors can thus determine if couples and individuals have the power to make their own choices. Gender inequality is often the underlying problem. 

Preference for smaller families
When people have the choice, the majority opts for smaller families, with an average of two children. With increased access to contraceptives there is a global tendency towards lower birth rates. Governments’ roles are important for this to happen. Their population policies can encourage family planning, invest in education – particularly for girls and women – and take measures to allow people to find the right work-life balance.

Population growth is a concern for governments of countries where the total number of children per woman exceeds 4. The bigger the population, the greater the needs for investments in health care, education and the economy. Reproductive rights thus benefit both individuals and countries as a whole.
​
Universal access to family planning by 2030
UNFPA calls on all countries to commit themselves to the reproductive rights of all citizens, so that nobody is left behind. Governments need to tackle the social, economic and institutional obstacles. All countries have committed to do so in 1994 already, with the recognition of reproductive rights at the International Conference on Population and Development held in Cairo. With the adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, this commitment has been renewed, with the promise to realise universal access to family planning by 2030. Doing so requires governments to systematically integrate sexual and reproductive health services in primary health care, provide comprehensive sexuality education for all young persons and to fight gender inequality. 

Comments are closed.

    Archive

    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    July 2016
    May 2016

    Categories

    All
    2030 Agenda
    Abortion
    Adolescents
    Afri
    Africa
    AIDS2018
    Alexander De Croo
    Amnesty Chair
    Amnesty International
    Antichoice
    Award
    Be Cause Health
    Be-cause Health
    Belgian Development Cooperation
    Belgiu
    Belgium
    Child Marriage
    Climate Change
    Comprehensive Sexuality Education
    Contraceptives
    Council Of Europe
    Countdown2030Europe
    CPD
    CSE
    CSW
    Development Cooperation
    Discrimination
    Diversity
    Early Marriages
    EDCTP
    EDD
    Educaid
    Education
    Enabel
    EPF
    Equality
    E Tutorial Body&rights
    E-tutorial Body&rights
    European Development Days
    Event
    Family Planning
    Feminism
    Fistula
    Flag System
    FP2020
    FP2020 Summit
    Funding Gap
    Gender Action Plan
    Genderbased Violence
    Gender Equality
    Gender Norms
    Girls And Women
    Global Gag Rule
    HIV/AIDS
    Hiv Prevention
    Hiv Treatment
    Hiv Vaccine
    Humanitarian Crises
    Human Rights
    ICPD
    IPPF
    Key Populations
    LGBTI
    LSHTM
    Marleen Temmerman
    Maternal Health
    Maternal Morbidity
    Maternal Mortality
    Mexico City Policy
    Migration
    Minister De Croo
    Mozambique
    ODA
    Opposition
    Parliamentarians For The 2030 Agenda
    Parliamentary Delegation
    Perspective 2030
    Peter Piot
    Policy Note
    Population Growth
    Report
    Reproductive Rights
    Resolution
    RMNCH
    Rutgers
    SDG3
    SDG5
    SDGs
    Sensoa
    Sensoa Flagsystem
    Sexual And Reproductive Health And Rights
    Sexual Health
    Sexuality
    Sexual Rights
    Sexual Violence
    SGBV
    She Decdes
    She Decides
    SRHR
    Stigma
    Sustainable Development
    SWOP
    Teenage Pregnancies
    The Philippines
    Trump
    UHC
    UNAIDS
    UNESCO
    UNFPA
    UNICEF
    UNWOMEN
    Urbanization
    Voluntary National Review
    WAS 2017
    WHO
    Women And Girls
    Women's Rights
    Worlds AIDS Day
    Young People
    Youth
    Zanzu

    RSS Feed