Statement on Population from World Leaders (1966)
The peace of the world is of paramount importance to the community of nations, and our governments are devoting their best efforts to improving the prospects for peace in this and succeeding generations. But another great problem threatens the world—a problem less visible but no less immediate. That is the problem of unplanned population growth.
It took mankind all of recorded time until the middle of the last century to achieve a population of one billion. Yet it took less than a hundred years to add the second billion, and only thirty years to add the third. At today's rate of increase, there will be four billion people by 1975 and nearly seven billion by the year 2000. This unprecedented increase presents us with a situation unique in human affairs and a problem that grows more urgent with each passing day.
The numbers themselves are striking, but their implications are of far greater significance. Too rapid population growth seriously hampers efforts to raise living standards, to further education, to improve health and sanitation, to provide better housing and transportation, to forward cultural and recreational opportunities—and even in some countries to assure sufficient food. In short, the human aspiration, common to men everywhere, to live a better life is being frustrated and jeopardized.
As heads of governments actively concerned with the population problem, we share these convictions:
We believe that the population problem must be recognized as a principal element in long-range national planning if governments are to achieve their economic goals and fulfill the aspirations of their people.
We believe that the great majority of parents desire to have the knowledge and the means to plan their families; that the opportunity to decide the number and spacing of children is a basic human right.
We believe that lasting and meaningful peace will depend to a considerable measure upon how the challenges of population growth is met.
We believe that the objective of family planning is the enrichment of human life, not its restriction; that family planning, by assuring greater opportunity to each person, frees man to attain his individual dignity and reach his full potential.
Recognizing that family planning is in the vital interests of both the nation and the family, we, the undersigned, earnestly hope that leaders around the world will share our views and join with us in this great challenge for the well being and happiness of people everywhere.
HAROLD HOLT
Prime Minister of Australia | LT. GE. J.A. ANKRAH
Chairman of the National Liberation Council of Ghana |
ERROL W. BARROW
Prime Minister of Barbados | MME. INDIRA GANDHI
Prime Minister of India |
DR. CARLOS LLERAS RESTREPO
President of Colombia | GENERAL SUHARTO
Acting President of Indonesia |
JENS OTTO KRAG
Prime Minister of Denmark | SHAH MOHAMMAD REZA PAHLAVI
Emperor of Iran |
DR. JOAQUIN BALAGUER
President of Dominican Republic | EISAKO SATO
Prime Minister of Japan |
DR. D. URHO KEKKONEN
President of Finland | HIS MAJESTY HUSSEIN
King of Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan |
GENERAL CHUNG HEE PARK
President of Republic of Korea | LEE KWAN YEW
Prime Minister of Singapore |
TUNKU ABDUL RAHMAN
Prime Minister of Malaysia | TAGE ERLANDER
Prime Minister of Sweden |
HIS MAJESTY HASSAN II
King of Morocco | THANOM KITTIKACHORN
Prime Minister of Thailand |
HIS MAJESTY MAHENDRA
King of Nepal | ERIC WILLIAMS
Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago |
DR. J. ZULSTRA
Prime Minister of The Netherlands | HABIB BOURGIBA
President of Tunisia |
KEITH HOLYOAKE
Prime Minister of New Zealand | GAMEL ABDEL NASSER
President of UAR |
PER BORTEN
Prime Minister of Norway | HAROLD WILSON
Prime Minister of United Kingdom |
FIELD MARSHAL MOHAMMED AYUB KHAN
President of Pakistan | LYNDON B. JOHNSON
President of United States of America |
FERDINAND E. MARCOS
President of Republic of the Philippines | MARSHAL JOSIP BROZ-TITO
President of Yugoslavia |
Drafted and circulated by John D. Rockefeller 3rd, signed by 30 world leaders in 1966
This page updated
19 October, 2007
