All our people. Population policy with a human face

Part of Foreword . . . by Robert S. McNamara

In September 1968, in my first speech as President of the World Bank, speaking to the Finance Ministers of the world at the annual meeting of the Bank and the International Monetary Fund, I said: "The rapid growth of population is one of the greatest barriers to economic growth and social well-being of [the people] of our member states."

Is the increase in human numbers and its environmental and developmental ramifications a cause for concern?

Klaus Leisinger and Karin Schmitt have made a valuable contribution to the argument that more needs to be done to slow population growth. Their work makes it clear that reducing population growth rates will require concerted efforts among individuals and institutions in many countries both rich and poor.

In this context I strongly endorse the authors' view that rich countries should contribute substantially to the the international efforts to create the necessary conditions for slowing rates of population growth so as to improve the lives of people - especially poor people - in the world.

Any such increased contribution should not be viewed as a humanitarian gesture, although that it surely is, but as an act of enlightened self-interest: one intended to reduce pressures on our small, crowded planet with its finite resources.

ROBERT S. McNAMARA