It is the basic right of every individual to decide freely the number, spacing and timing of their children. As a global society, we must guarantee the ability to make reproductive and sexual health decisions free from discrimination, coercion and violence. The services to help us reach these reproductive goals must be affordable, accessible and meet international standards of quality.

These rights are essential, especially for women whose bodies have long been used as tools to assert social, political or religious control.

Interventions aimed at influencing fertility rates, whether high or low, are never the answer because these rates are neither inherently good nor bad. With the right approach, resilient societies can thrive, whatever their fertility rate may be.

Asking the right questions

The question we should be asking is not whether there are too many or too few people on the planet, but whether all individuals are equipped to thrive and exercise their basic human right to sexual and reproductive autonomy. As it stands, only a proportion of humanity has access to these rights. It’s only when we guarantee them for everyone that we will unlock the potential of all people to thrive and adapt to the changing realities of our world.

This year’s State of the World Population report makes the case for a world in which each individual is free to choose their reproductive future – a world in which countries build demographic resilience by adapting to population change, rather than attempting to control it.

It’s important that countries understand that attempts to restrict reproductive rights do not work. Instead, these interventions universally backfire, harming societies as a whole, and women, girls and marginalized groups in particular.

Population is, essentially, human beings. We must structure our societies to meet the needs of our population as it continues to experience inevitable change. Systems are tools to be usedin the service of humanity,not the other way around. This moment requires us to realize the potential of all people, regardless of their gender, ethnicity, nationality or disability, so that each individual can contribute to our collective future.