Explicating donor trends for population assistance

Using population assistance data, this study divides donor trends for population assistance into five distinct epochs: until the mid-1960s, the population hysteria of the 1960s and 1970s, Bucharest Conference and beyond, the 1984 Mexico City conference, and the 1990s. A number of decisive events, as well as changing views of the population problem, characterise each period and have affected the sums of population assistance from donor nations. Taking a long-term view of global population assistance, the research shows that four factors account for most of the historical funding trends from primary donors: the association between population assistance and foreign aid, the role of alarmists and doomsayers in the public debate over population issues, individuals in a position of power within donor governments, and decennial international population conferences.