Impact of Population Assistance to an Asian Country

Gao ID: ID-77-10 July 12, 1977

The population growth rate in Pakistan is one of the highest in the world and constitutes one of the country's most serious problems.

Although about $164 million has been spent on birth control programs since 1960, including about $59 million in U.S. assistance, Pakistan's rate of growth is still 3 percent. The social acceptability of large families as well as social and cultural norms of a largely subsistence-level society and the need for greater Government support were the chief program difficulties. Little attention was paid to the incentives necessary to cause couples to want smaller families. Further, the Agency for International Development (AID) mistakenly assumed that there was a latent demand in the society for family planning services.

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