Decreasing Fertility in the Global South: Policies about Policies

Abstract

Population dynamics in the global South changed dramatically in the second half of the 20^th century. The time lags between the onsets of mortality and fertility declines blew up the population bomb producing serious long-term negative consequences at the national and global scales. The realization of the destructive nature of population bomb initiated the search of means to defuse it through fertility policies. Generous assistance by the North, political will of recipient countries and attainment of the international consensus on this ideologically loaded issue loaded have determined the success of the family planning programmes which became a big factor of the demographic transition. This experience is relevant for population policies in other settings and may be applied to completely different social issues.