Ten years ago, 179 governments committed to the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) by signed to it. The ICPD prescribes the steps that will not only save millions of women’s lives but empower societies to achieve a better future.
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After growing very slowly for most of human history, the world's population more than doubled in the last half century and will cross the six billion mark in late 1999. Moreover, population is still increasing by about 78 million people a year, despite the trend worldwide towards smaller families. Total population size will likely grow for at least the next 40 years and by at least another 1.5 billion people. Almost all of this growth is occurring in the developing regions; most industrialized countries are growing very slowly or not at all, while in a few countries, population size is declining. 
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Worldwide, the largest group of young women ever is entering their childbearing years, requiring an expansion of family planning services to meet their needs and enable more couples to have the smaller families they desire. In the long term, smaller families will contribute to individual and family well-being, to a slowdown in population growth rates, and to sustainable economic development<sup>1</sup>. 

In the final analysis, the number of people on earth is not the real story. The real story is improving the quality of life of every one. A number of interconnected issues play a critical role in today's world: sexual and reproductive health, HIV/AIDS and youth, gender and human rights, family planning and safe motherhood, environmental protection, employment and economic development et al. 
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International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) Programme of Action.

ALMOST ALL COUNTRIES ARE TAKING ACTION TO: 
   
Enact laws and policies to protect 
the rights of women and girls 
Ensure equal access to primary education for girls and boys 
Ensure universal access to reproductive health services as part of basic primary health care 
Empower women and girls socially and economically 
Prevent HIV infection 
End gender-based violence  

Full text: http://www.unfpa.org/icpd/icpd_poa.htm
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<img src="http://www.census.gov/cgi-bin/ipc/pcwpng" ALT="World POPClock" BORDER="1">
Today, there are more than 6 billion people on the planet, with half of the world’s population under the age of 25—at or just reaching their childbearing years.


This World Population Day marks the mid-point of the 20-year Cairo Programme of Action. Let us today reaffirm our commitment to the promises made in Cairo. And let us recognize the centrality of the ICPD agenda to our wider efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. 

Kofi Anan, UN Secretary-General

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Millenium Development Goals - Indicators Database
http://millenniumindicators.un.org/unsd/mi/mi_goals.asp

International Planned Parenthood Federation
http://www.ippf.org/

<a href="http://www.care.org/">Care International</a>
<a href="http://www.ippf.org/">International Planned Parenthood Federation</a>
<a href="http://www.iussp.org/">International Union for the Scientific Study of Population</a>
<a href="http://www.pathfind.org/site/PageServer">Pathfinder International</a>
<a href="http://www.populationaction.org/">Population Action</a>
<a href="http://www.population.org/">Population Communications International</a>
<a href="http://www.populationconcern.org.uk/">Population Concern</a>
<a href="http://www.popcouncil.org/about/about.html">Population Council</a>
<a href="http://www.prb.org/">Population Reference Bureau</a>
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<a href="http://www.public-info.org/">Public-Info</a>
<a href="http://www2.tribute.nl/wpf/uk/main.html">World Population Foundation</a>


<sup>1</sup> Pupolation Action