Likewise, medical services facilitate better medical care among all urban citizens, thereby increasing life expectancy and quality of living. The combination of better education and better health care, including access to reproductive health services, results in wider choice for women, with benefits for them and their children, as can be seen in such nations as Sri Lanka and South Korea. In these two countries, where women have an average of more than six years of schooling, maternal and infant mortality rates are among the lowest in Asia, and families have an average of about two children. A healthier and more stable population has a better chance to achieve sustainable development. The productivity and sense of well-being and security of people is directly affected by their state of health and their expectation of healthy life.
Information is a vital tool in the effort to stabilize population growth.
A slowing of the population growth rate in some areas of the world has been attributed to increased options for women, including better reproductive health care services and better access to them. In Kenya fertility has already fallen, from a high of more than eight children per woman in the 1970s to slightly more than six. Fertility rates are also dropping rapidly in Iran, where women had an average of nearly seven children in the early 1980s but only five today. This decline can be traced to the Iranian government's 1989 decision to emphasize reproductive health care and provide access to family planning information and services. The challenge for developing countries is to provide a wider range of choices for women.