Oral question asked in the House of Commons, by Richard Ottaway (Conservative). It was answered on Wednesday, 26 October 2011 on behalf of the Department for International Development.

World Population

Question: The world's population will go past 7 billion this week, with profound effect. We have millions living in poverty, shortages of food and water and inadequate health provision. Does the Secretary of State agree that one root cause of that is the unmet demand for contraception from some 200 million women living in sub-Saharan Africa?

Answer: My hon. Friend, who knows a good deal about this matter, is absolutely right. Indeed, I have been reading a pamphlet that he published—within the past two days, I believe—entitled ““Sex, Ideology and Religion””, which is a treatise on population. He refers to the 215 million women who want, but have no access to, contraception. The Government are directly seeking to tackle that, not least in respect of the extra 10 million women. That is a good start, but we will do more over the next four years.

Secondary information