Sustainable development, demography and sexual and reproductive health: inseparable linkages and their policy...

The greatest challenge today is to meet the needs of current and future generations, of a large and growing world population, without imposing catastrophic pressures on the natural environment. Meeting this challenge depends on decisive policy changes in three areas: more inclusive economic growth, greener economic growth, and population policies. This article focuses on efforts to address and harness demographic changes for sustainable development, which are largely outside the purview of the current debate. Efforts to this end must be based on the recognition that demographic changes are the cumulative result of individual choices and opportunities, and that demographic changes are best addressed through policies that enlarge these choices and opportunities, with a focus on ensuring unrestricted and universal access to sexual and reproductive health information and services, empowering women to fully participate in social, economic and political life, and investing in the education of the younger generation beyond the primary level. The article provides a strong argument for why the Programme of Action that was agreed at the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) 20 years ago continues to hold important implications and lessons for the formulation of the post-2015 development agenda, which is expected to supersede the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).