A child born this year in Sub-Saharan Africa can expect to live only about 50 years, while a child born in one of the more developed countries of the world may expect to survive to age 74, or about 50 percent longer. The world community adopted an agenda for action at the ICPD and the regional preparatory conferences which emphasizes demographic goals, economic growth within the context of sustainable development, improved access to reproductive health care, and the empowerment of women. Projections of the Bureau of the Census indicate that only 50 to 60 percent of the developing nations are likely to achieve the ICPD mortality reduction goals set for the year 2015 in spite of ongoing improvements in child survivorship in the developing world. Few countries, whether developing or more developed, will meet the goals adopted for the year 2000. Fewer than half of the developing countries of Asia are likely to achieve the regional goal of replacement level fertility by year 2010.
China already has.
India probably will not. Access to reproductive health care, including family planning, is a key goal adopted in Cairo. Women are, in fact, using family planning in increasing numbers in every world region. In developing countries today, five times as many couples are using contraception as in the 1960 s. Nevertheless, the full range of modern methods is unavailable to as many as 350 million couples worldwide.