Sustainable Development

Sustainable Development Defined

Sustainable development is social and economic development that meets the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Traditionally, countries have relied on heavy natural resource extraction and fossil fuel use to grow their economies, which has precipitated the environmental crises we grapple with today.

Overtaxing Earth’s Biocapacity

As the middle class grows in much of the world, lifting people out of abject poverty and into a more acceptable quality of life, the number of people on the planet becomes an even more important determinant of the toll humans take on the environment. We are already consuming resources at a level that would require 1.7 planet earths to keep consumption sustainable year over year, according to the Global Footprint Network. Of course, we only have the one. And if everyone consumed like the typical American, we’d need five earths to support our resource demands. As you can see in the graphic below, if everyone in the world consumed like the average Indian person, we’d be living within our planet’s means.

Sustainable Development Goals

If humanity hopes to have a safe, healthy, and fulfilling future on this planet, we must accelerate progress toward the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The SDGs are a set of 17 ambitious goals—which the member states of the United Nations agreed upon in 2015—that aim to improve lives and protect the environment. They have a target date of 2030 but, so far, the world is falling terribly short of meeting them. The goals range from ending hunger and poverty to achieving global gender equality to halting the climate and extinction crises.

The 17 Sustainable Development Goals

1. No Poverty
2. Zero Hunger
3. Good Health and Well-being
4. Quality Education
5. Gender Equality
6. Clean Water and Sanitation
7. Affordable and Clean Energy
8. Decent Work and Economic Growth
9. Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure
10. Reduced Inequalities
11. Sustainable Cities and Communities
12. Responsible Consumption and Production
13. Climate Action
14. Life Below Water
15. Life on Land
16. Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
17. Partnerships

Population Stabilization to Achieve the SDGs

In the face of rising incomes in low consumption settings (a good thing!), and with a population in 2025 of 8.2 billion that’s projected to reach 9 billion in 2037 and 10 billion in 2061 (UN medium projection), it’s more important than ever to eliminate the unmet need for modern contraception that 257 million women around the world experience.

Addressing unmet need and reducing unintended pregnancies and unwanted births is the most effective and most cost-effective way to reduce population growth. Expanding access to reproductive health care and voluntary family planning services are targets embedded within the SDGs that help women realize their fundamental human right to control whether, when, and with whom to have children. Empowering women also helps advance all of the other SDGs, and in fact represents a precondition for achieving many of them.

Women Are Key to Sustainable Development Success

When women gain access to high-quality reproductive health care, education, and employment prospects, they generally enjoy enhanced social, economic, and political power. Women’s participation in economic and civic life has positive returns for communities and entire countries, as evidenced by the development indicators of the countries with the highest gender equality scores.

At Population Connection, we advocate tirelessly for universal access to voluntary family planning services for people in the United States and in countries around the world that receive our foreign assistance (until Donald Trump froze foreign aid for reproductive health soon after taking office in 2025). We support women’s right to manage their own fertility and exercise bodily autonomy and reproductive freedom. And we serve as one of the only remaining messengers in the United States on the critical importance of population stabilization.