COMPLEMENTARITY AND DIVERSITY BETWEEN THE UN 1974 BUCHAREST WPC AND UN 1994 CAIRO ICPD WITH REFERENCE TO THEIR ISSUES AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Abstract

The concerns of population growth had been there from time immemorial. As far back as 500 BC, the Ancient Chinese, Greeks and Roman Empire used to recognize the implications of high population growth on resources, as described by the Malthusian principle, articulating that   unchecked population growth rate is faster than food supply where population manifests exponential growth trends whereas food supply to grow in arithmetic fashion.

Overtime, the Malthusian population growth notion sparked debates which gained momentum and featured into the international political agenda after the 1945 establishment of the United Nations.  Accordingly,  since  early 1970’s, sentiments started to crop up that rapid population growth was a hindrance to development in the third world, and hence, argued by the Neo-Malthusian capitalist oriented group  that direct “birth Control” had to be introduced as a panacea to enable couples to limit their fertility thereby curbing the high population growth to be covered by the available resources. However, it was counter-argued by socialist-oriented group that “development is the best contraceptive” to facilitate the acceptance of “birth control”. Our interest is, therefore, focused on looking at the complementarity/convergence and divergence in the issues raised and recommendations made by the UN 1974 Bucharest World Population Conference (WPC and the UN 1994 Cairo International Conference of Population and Development (ICPD) in relation to fertility agendas.