ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews family planning policies and programmes in Asia since the 1950s. It argues that the successes and failures of these mostly government-led interventions cannot be fully understood without appreciating the unique political and economic conditions prevailing during the post-World War II era, especially the large wave of decolonization which swept across Asia, the long period of economic growth in the West, and the Cold War. The shift in focus from population control to a human rights approach associated with the 1994 UN Conference on Population and Development stands out as the most important development in family planning and reproductive health programming over the last 60 years. The chapter points out that there is, however, still a large ‘unmet need’ for family planning services in Asia today.
