How Has the World Changed in the Last 20 Years?
12. Fewer abortions are taking place. Globally, abortion rates have declined, from 35 per 1,000 women in 1995 to 29 per 1,000 women in 2008. This brought the total number of abortions down, despite increased population size. But improving access to sexual and reproductive health services, including voluntary family planning, would bring these numbers down even further. Addressing unmet family planning needs would avert 54 million unintended pregnancies and result in 26 million fewer abortions. 1,5,9 UNITED NATIONS, New York – Twenty years ago, the international community gathered in Cairo, Egypt, to explore how the world was changing and how those changes were affecting the most vulnerable. At the 1994 meeting, the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), the world agreed that population issues – including voluntary family planning, maternal and child health, migration, and gender equality ...