ABSTRACT
The United Nations Cairo Conference on Population and Development, held in September 1994, conveyed an unambiguous message, even if it is sometimes necessary to read between the lines; demographic growth and its socio-economic effects are no longer a major cause for anxiety. The concern to reduce the growth of the population as a whole has given way to an approach based on the individual, emphasizing reproductive health and the rights and empowerment of women. Underlying this is the idea that humanity has firmly entered the second stage of the demographic transition, the fertility transition stage, and that it is unalterably heading towards a stable state.
