Demographic transition and socio-economic development: proceedings of the united nations / UNFPA expert group meeting istanbul, 27 April-4 May 1977

The Expert Group Meeting on Demographic Transition and Socio-Economic Development was convened at Istanbul, Turkey, from 27 April to 4 May 1977. The meeting was organized jointly by the Population Division of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs, United Nations, and the United Nations Fund for Population Activities, in collaboration with the Government of Turkey.
In convening the meeting the United Nations acted pursuant to recommendations of the 1974 World Population Conference, which in resolution II called upon "the United Nations, its specialized agencies and other international organiza tions and national research organizations and institutions to continue and to expand their research of the socio-economic aspects of demographic change" and in resolution VI noted that "the study of the socio-economic factors in those countries where rapid demographic change has taken place in the recent past makes an important contribution to the understanding of the interrelations between population and development". The meeting followed and plemented the meeting that was held at Geneva in April 1976 on methods of measuring the impact of family-planning programmes on fertility, as it dealt with the problem of measuring the impact of variables linked to socio-economic development on fertility, while keeping in mind the possible impact of family-planning programmes.
The Expert Group was requested to review problems and issues in measuring the impact of socio-economic factors on fertility in the context of declining fertility. The objective was to establish guidelines for future research in countries where fertility is declining. This is the purpose of the recommendations presented herein, which were agreed upon by the Expert Group, and which are followed in this volume by an analytical Report of the Meeting and by the background and the Conference room papers. It is hoped that this volume will serve the needs of, inter alia, planners, policy makers and social scientists, particularly as regards the harmonization of develop ment and population policies.