United Nations/United Nations Fund for Population Activities Expert Group Meeting on Population-Development Modelling,Geneva, 24-28 September 1979

The objective of the Expert Group Meeting on Population-Development Modelling, held in Geneva during September 1979, was to make a critical review of existing population-development models and to assess their practical value in policymaking and planning. Of particular concern was the treatment of population-related issues in these models and their adaptability to the needs of developing countries in terms of such factors as conceptual and methodological problems and the availability of accurate and diverse data and technical and computer infrastructure. Several aspects of the problems were examined at the meeting. 6 areas were covered: the value of population-development model-building, achievements of existing population-development models, population-development submodels, the identification of research priorities concerning population-development interrelationships, perspective and alternative approaches to integrating demographic components into existing development planning frameworks, and an institutional framework for building and using population-development models. The Working Group developed and adopted a set of recommendations for future research and actions and these are presented. The recommendations made are in the following areas: role of population-development models, types of population-development models, institutional framework, and priorities for future research. The following were included among the recommendations: 1) efforts to contrast and apply models of various types relating to social, economic, and demographic processes should be encouraged; and 2) a need exists to support the development of research-oriented models.