Jane Menken, Editor

World Population and U.S. Policy

The Choices Ahead

In mid-1986, world population stood at 5 billion. The United Nations now projects that in less than fifty years the world population will at least double, and may reach over 12 billion. Is this cause for alarm? What are the choices ahead for the United States?

In the 1960s and 1970s we were warned of "the population bomb," an explosion feared devastating to the resources and growth of the Third World. U.S. policy aimed to slow population increase through family planning programs. During the Reagan years, U.S. policy shifted dramatically, focusing less on controlling population than on promoting economic development. Population control would be left to the free market, in the belief that "development is the best contraceptive." No U.S. aid would be used to fund voluntary abortion as a means of family planning.

What policies should guide the United States as the world enters a period of sharp population growth? The experts shed light on this question and others.