Asia-Pacific Population Journal - Volume 1, Issue 2, 1986

Since 1950, population growth rates in developing countries have averaged around 2 per cent per year, enough to double the size of a country’s population in 35 years. The calculation is not merely hypothetical; the population of the developing world (Africa, Latin America and Asia, except Japan) has in fact doubled between 1950, when it numbered 1.7 billion, and 1984, when it reached 3.6 billion.

The influence of economic conditions on health and mortality has long been recognized, although originally the emphasis was probably more on the impact of economic hardships than on the effects of affluence. Irregularities in food supply were well known and reported in ancient records, which describe, for example, the impact of shortages on mortality.

India’s primary health care and family planning programme has been receiving increasing attention owing to the country’s commitment to achieving “health for all” and to reaching the national goal of a net reproduction rate of unity by the year 2000. These time-bound twin objectives call for substantial improvements in the performance of the programme at all levels and particularly at the operating level where direct interface with clients occurs.

During the past 50 years, some countries in the Asia-Pacific region have achieved virtual control over infectious diseases which used to be endemic among their respective populations, while other countries are still fighting these battles.

Before solutions to population problems can be formulated and implemented, planners and policy-makers must have access to population information and database analysis. In the Asian and Pacific region, India has long been active in providing such data and information through various publications. From 1872 until 1941, data relating to population were printed in a separate volume for each of India’s States or provinces and princely States etc. Each of the volumes was preceeded by an analytical report. Thus, there were generally two volumes on a particular State or province, giving complete information pertaining to the population census. In addition, a number of volumes were also published relating to ancillary studies which have traditionally been a part of India’s population censuses.