Investments in international family planning programs are crucial to increasing access to basic resources such as food, health care and primary education. Smaller families are more likely to be educated, healthy and nourished. Smaller families also reduce the demand for scarce food products. With family planning, parents are better able to provide for the children they already have.

Many parents struggle to support and feed their families in low- and middle-income countries, where an estimated 2 billion people suffer from malnutrition and nearly 11 million children under five die each year; 60 percent of these deaths are caused by hunger-related diseases. Many of the countries with highest levels of food insecurities will continue to see an increasing number of people without sufficient access to adequate nutrition.

This section of the Family Planning Advocacy Toolkit provides evidence of the links between population and food security and illustrates the role family planning can play in sustainable development .

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