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Women are having fewer children than ever before, and population growth has slowed from 2.0 to 1.3 per cent in 30 years. But large families in the recent past mean that there are many more women of childbearing age. Global population is still rising by about 78 million people a year. Half the world is under 25 and there are over a billion young people between 15 and 24, the parents of the next generation.

This report is intended to be a tool for donor and developing country Governments, multilateral organizations and agencies, private foundations and NGOs to monitor progress in achieving the financial resource targets agreed to at the ICPD. Development cooperation officers and policy makers in developing countries can use the report to identify the domestically generated resources and complementary resources from donors needed to finance population and reproductive health programmes.

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Working with both women and men, we continued the effort during 2001 to eliminate violence against women and the discrimination that limits the potential of individuals and nations. Our role in human development, mandated by the United Nations and globally endorsed at the ICPD, is to improve the reproductive health of women, men and young people in the poorest countries?and in so doing, to bring about a more equitable world.