Women are having fewer children than ever before, and population growth has slowed from 2.0 to 1.3 per cent in 30 years. But large families in the recent past mean that there are many more women of childbearing age. Global population is still rising by about 78 million people a year. Half the world is under 25 and there are over a billion young people between 15 and 24, the parents of the next generation.

This report is intended to be a tool for donor and developing country Governments, multilateral organizations and agencies, private foundations and NGOs to monitor progress in achieving the financial resource targets agreed to at the ICPD. Development cooperation officers and policy makers in developing countries can use the report to identify the domestically generated resources and complementary resources from donors needed to finance population and reproductive health programmes.

Working with both women and men, we continued the effort during 2001 to eliminate violence against women and the discrimination that limits the potential of individuals and nations. Our role in human development, mandated by the United Nations and globally endorsed at the ICPD, is to improve the reproductive health of women, men and young people in the poorest countries?and in so doing, to bring about a more equitable world.

In 2000, UNFPA continued to support countries in the development of population and development strategies, and data collection, analysis and policy formulation. A top priority in 2000 was the development of a new global strategy for reproductive health commodity security.

1999 was a momentous year for UNFPA. The "ICPD+5" review, our 30th anniversary, and the birth of the 6 billionth person provided us with unique opportunities to look at where we have been and where we are going in our quest to help people make informed, responsible and free choices regarding their sexual and reproductive health.

The year 1998 was a crucial one in UNFPA's efforts to advance the agenda agreed to by the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), held in Cairo. Also in 1998, the Fund stepped up its collaboration with other partners to provide reproductive health services to people displaced by armed conflicts or natural disasters.

The themes that animate UNFPA's Annual Report for 1997 are ones that have become familiar since the ICPD in 1994. Reproductive health, including family planning and sexual health, remained the focus of the Fund's work during 1997, with programmes in the area of adolescent reproductive health playing an increasingly important role.

In this annual report, we draw attention to the many different ways in which UNFPA is working to reduce poverty by meeting reproductive health needs in developing countries, especially among the poorest and most vulnerable.

This publication highlights the importance of the ICPD Programme of Action, the "Cairo+5" discussions and subsequent experience and agreements as we mobilize to achieve the Millennium Development Goals.