Commemorating 50 Years of USAID Investment in Family Planning

On January 4, 1965, in his State of the Union address, President Johnson announced, “I will seek new ways to use our knowledge to help deal with the explosion in world population and the growing scarcity in world resources.” Under this mandate, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) began its population and family planning program. In the 50 years of assistance, USAID’s program has focused on enabling women and couples to make informed, voluntary decisions about whether to have children and, for those who would like children, when and how many to have.

Expanding access to voluntary family planning information and services has created a positive ripple effect with profound health, economic and social benefits for families and communities. When an individual or a couple can choose the timing and spacing of their children, they are better equipped to provide for their family's well-being and invest more of their scarce resources in the health and education of their children. Enabling women and girls to avoid early pregnancy allows many to attend school longer, and women with fewer children are more able to seek employment, increasing household income and assets. We also know that through healthy timing and spacing of pregnancies, family planning could reduce maternal deaths by 30 percent and child deaths by 28 percent globally.

As the largest bilateral donor for family planning assistance, USAID has played a crucial role in increasing access to modern contraception for women and families across the globe. Use of modern contraception by married women of reproductive age in the developing world (excluding China) rose from less than 10 percent in 1965 to 46 percent today. Over the next year, USAID will highlight various aspects of our 50 years working to enable women and men to choose the number, timing, and spacing of their children.

Learn more:

• Read President Lyndon B. Johnson’s 1965 State of the Union address.
• Read the USAID report “50 years in Global Health” to learn more about the history of our work in family planning.
• View our USAID family planning timeline.
• Learn more about our current family planning programs.
• Stay connected to @USAIDGH on Twitter for updates on USAID’s celebration of 50 years of work in family planning.

Photo credits: JSI (USAID/Deliver), USAID/Peru, Derek Brown/USAID, Cheryl Hanna- Truscott/Midwives for Haiti