Founded in 1968, Population Connection (formerly Zero Population Growth or ZPG) is the largest grassroots population organization in the United States! We have more than 40,000 members and hundreds of thousands more supporters and participating educators working together to build a more sustainable future for all of our planet’s inhabitants. Population Connection works to ensure that everyone around the world who wants to delay or end childbearing has access to the health services and contraceptive supplies they need in order to do so.
Fulfilling Population Connection’s mission requires smashing any and all barriers that prevent people from deciding if and when to have children. It’s never about “population control.” It’s always about empowering people — especially women and girls. We must address the unmet need for family planning of the 218 million women in the developing world who want to prevent pregnancy but aren’t using modern contraception.
Global population is projected to hit 8 billion around the year 2023, depending on fertility rates over the next few years. One in ten people already lives below the international poverty line of $1.90 per day. Up to 1 million species are threatened with extinction in the coming decades, and our encroachment into wildlife habitats is responsible for such catastrophes as the current global COVID-19 pandemic.
Until everyone, everywhere, has access to affordable and appropriate contraceptives, comprehensive reproductive health care, and equal opportunity in education and employment, global environmental crises, food and water shortages, and entrenched poverty will continue unabated. We must dedicate every available resource to advocating in Washington, D.C., for dramatic increases in family planning aid and to educating tomorrow’s leaders about the complex problems associated with rapid population growth.
Our core programs:
- Population Education (PopEd): We train K-12 teachers and produce curriculum materials that address population issues and reach 3 million students each year.
- We have a new educational initiative directed at college and university professors to help them incorporate population concepts into their climate change lesson plans.
- Advocacy and Grassroots Outreach: We engage an active constituency of U.S. advocates for international family planning programs, and we work directly with federal policymakers to fund and improve international family planning.
- Membership Engagement: We work with our members to volunteer on our behalf and share the population stabilization message with their communities.
Population Connection is a non-partisan organization that does not engage in electoral politics. Our sister organization, Population Connection Action Fund, advocates for effective policies and to elect candidates who support the rights of all women to control their own lives.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ): For the answers most people ask about population and to dispel common misconceptions, go to our FAQ page.
