The United Nations Fund for Population Activities

Abstract

As of the end of January 1973, the United Nations Fund for Population Activities was supporting almost 600 population projects in 76 developing countries and areas, with cumulative resources of more than $80 million contributed by 60 governments. The rapid expansion of resources and activities experienced by the Fund since its inception five years ago is evidence of the remarkable rate at which international concern for world population problems, once aroused, has been translated into action. The Fund, as the recognized focal point of population efforts of the United Nations system, has moved further toward its objective of encouraging universal participation in population activities. The Fund provides assistance to governments in the areas of collecting basic population data, population dynamics, population policy, education and communication, multisector activities, and, most extensively, family planning. The Fund's continuing role as a major multilateral source of assistance in the population field was confirmed in December 1972, when the United Nations General Assembly changed the Fund from a trust fund of the Secretary-General to a fund under the authority of the Assembly itself.