Through this project, Futures Group estimated the reduction in population growth that would result from meeting all unmet need for family planning in the developing world and the United States, as well as the estimated costs of doing so. Our study compared these estimates with those implied by the UN Population Division’s projections. The results of the study are helping to inform the debate on the role of alternative population scenarios in reducing greenhouse gases and climate change.

The study applied Futures Group’s Spectrum software package, which includes linked models for cohort-component population projection and family planning. We analyzed data on approximately 100 countries in a series of scenarios that projected the population and other key indicators from 2005 – 2050. The study was funded by the Hewlett Packard Company Foundation.