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. Improved availability of family planning services would carry important maternal and child health benefits, particularly in less developed countries. In addition, more widespread use of contraception could reduce unwanted fertility, which may be as high as 15 to 20 percent of all fertility in Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa, and as high as 30 percent in Latin America and North Africa. Fifteen million high-risk births occur each year to adolescent mothers, and 8 of every 10 of these take place in the developing nations of Asia, Africa, and Latin America.