Birth Spacing and Childhood Undernutrition
One factor often overlooked when considering strategies to reduce undernutrition is birth spacing, the time interval between births. According to a recent study published in Maternal and Child Nutrition, birth spacing plays an important role in nutritional status among children under five years of age, with shorter birth intervals increasing the risk of both stunting and underweight. (March 2009)

Brazil's Fertility Falls Below Two-Child Average
Recent population estimates from Brazil's national statistical office (IBGE) peg the national fertility rate at just 1.9 lifetime children per woman in 2007, lower than previous rates estimated by the UN, the U.S. Census Bureau, PRB, and other international organizations that estimate population measures. Notably, this new estimate is below the long-term replacement fertility rate of 2.1 children per woman—and below the 2.1 estimated for the United States in 2007. (February 2009)

Family Planning Use in Central America: Closing the Equity Gap
The overall contraceptive prevalence among women in union has increased in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua in the past two decades, according to the latest CDC report, Reproductive, Maternal and Child Health in Central America: Health Equity Trends. With the exception of Guatemala, the gap in contraceptive use between the poorest and wealthiest segments of the population has also decreased. Ensuring equitable access is important in improving maternal and child health, especially among the poor because they are often unaware of the benefits and live in areas where services are unavailable. (February 2009)

2008 World Population Data Sheet Webcast
PRB's 2008 World Population Data Sheet was released at a press briefing at the National Press Club, in Washington, DC, on Aug. 19, 2008. This year's theme: "Global Demographic Divide Widens." (August 2008)

2008 World Population Data Sheet

  PRB's 2008 World Population Data Sheet contains the latest population estimates, projections, and other key indicators for more than 200 countries, including births, deaths, natural increase, infant mortality, life expectancy, urban population, HIV/AIDS prevalence, contraceptive use, GNI PPP per capita, and population per square kilometer. New for the 2008 Data Sheet are data on percent of population in urban areas of 750,000 or more; lifetime risk of maternal death; percent of population undernourished; number of vehicles per 1,000 population; and percent of population with access to an improved drinking water source. (August 2008) 

World Population Highlights: Key Findings From PRB's 2008 World Population Data Sheet (PDF: 854KB)

 This Population Bulletin is the companion report to PRB's 2008 World Population Data Sheet. The Bulletin highlights key findings from the data sheet on: world population trends, nutrition, environment, HIV/AIDS, urbanization, and migration. (BUL63.3, September 2008)

Forest Conservation and Population Growth Among Indigenous Peoples of the Amazon
Fertility has declined significantly throughout the developing world, and in Latin America total fertility rates have declined by 50 percent over the last three decades, from 5.0 births per woman in 1970 to only 2.5 today. The successes in Latin America however, mask a great deal of regional variation. In countries such as Bolivia, Guatemala, and Haiti, total fertility rates are still nearly 4.0 or higher. Furthermore, in these countries, between 22 percent and 32 percent of women who do not desire another child or want to space their births still have no access to family planning services. Among those with the most limited access to basic reproductive health services are people living in the poorest and most remote communities—on the frontiers of lowland tropical forests like the Amazon and indigenous people living far beyond forest frontiers. (August 2008)

Family Planning Challenges and Decentralization of Health Services in Latin America
In recent decades, several countries throughout Latin America have undergone health sector reform in efforts to improve the quality of care and the level of coverage. Among the most common of these reforms is the decentralization of health services. To ensure that individuals have the ability to choose, obtain and use quality contraceptives whenever they need them—a goal referred to as "contraceptive security"—requires that policymakers, program managers, and advocates address a number of factors.  (June 2008)

Family Planning Policies and the Poor in Peru
Over the past two decades, the government of Peru has instituted a series of laws and policies designed to expand access to family planning services. A recent article in International Family Planning Perspectives notes that in practice, these policies have not always achieved their desired effect. (March 2008)

Managing Migration: The Global Challenge

 The number of international migrants is at an all-time high. There were 191 million migrants in 2005, which means that 3 percent of the world's people left their country of birth or citizenship for a year or more. The number of international migrants in industrialized countries more than doubled between 1985 and 2005, from almost 55 million to 120 million. This Population Bulletin, written by Philip Martin and Gottfried Zürcher, reviews the migration streams of the last several decades, globally and by world region. (BUL63.1; March 2008)