Voluntary family planning is a cost effective sustainable development strategy whose benefits keep compounding over time. Women with access to family planning services are more likely to be educated, marry later, be healthier and have healthier families, and take better advantage of economic opportunities. When women – half the world’s population – are empowered, entire communities and economies benefit.

Family planning can also promote the demographic dividend, which can occur when a population has more income-generating adults relative to the number of children who depend on them for support. Provided that the right social supports and services are in place, this population shift can provide a window of opportunity for economic growth and even greater investments in education, health care and social services.

This section of the Family Planning Advocacy Toolkit provides data and policy briefs that outline the impact of family planning on economic development, including PRB's Achieving a Demographic Dividend and the Aspen Institute document, Family Planning Promotes the Demographic Dividend.

Do you have a resource on family planning and economic development that is not represented in this toolkit? To suggest an additional tool or share your perspective, please fill out our feedback form.