Population policy in developed countries : a population council book

This project began in connection with the work of the Commission on Population Growth and the American Future. At an early period in its tenure, Charles Westoff, as Executive Director, and I, as a member, considered whether a review of population policy in a few developed countries would be useful as counterpoint to the commission's own deliberations. Because of other pressures on the commission's time, however, that review was not carried out under its auspices, and later the idea was taken up by the Population Council as an independent and much larger project. This volume is the outcome.

In the course of putting together this collection of papers, I was assisted by a number of people to whom I take this opportunity, once more, of expressing thanks. First of all, I am indebted to the collaborators them selves who made time in busy schedules to prepare these reports on population policy in their countries. As initiator and editor, I was always impressed by the friendly cooperation that existed across this range of countries.