VOA慢速英语:UN Says Family Planning Pays Big for Developing Countries

A new report says greater access to family planning methods would save developing countries more than eleven billion dollars a year. The United Nations Population Fund says the savings would come from reduced costs of care for mothers and newborn babies.
一份新报道称使推广计划生育政策能每年为发展中国家减少110亿美元以上的开支。联合国人口基金称可以从减少照顾母亲和新生儿的费用中省下钱。

These are some of the findings from this year's "State of World Population" report:
这份年度《世界人口状况》中涵盖了几个发现：

Two hundred twenty-two million women in developing countries cannot get birth control or other family planning services. An investment of four billion dollars a year would provide these women with reproductive information to reduce unplanned pregnancies and unsafe abortions.
发展中国家中有2.2亿妇女无法得到生育控制或其他计划生育服务，每年投资40亿美元可以为这些妇女提供生育信息，从而减少计划外怀孕和不安全堕胎的情况。

An investment of about two billion dollars a year would provide enough contraceptives to meet the needs of developing countries.
每年投资20亿美元将提供足够的避孕用品，满足发展中国家的需要。

The report says increased access to family planning is a good economic investment. Having fewer children has long paid a so-called demographic dividend to rich countries in Europe and North America. Population Fund spokeswoman Diane Stewart says one-third of the growth of Asia's "tiger" economies is the result of increased use of family planning services.
这份报道称推广计划生育是项很划算的投资，少生孩子给欧洲和北美的富裕国家带来了所谓的人口红利。人口基金女发言人黛安•斯图尔特称亚洲四小龙国家1/3的经济增长源于推广计划生育服务。

"To be able to choose the number of children and when you start having children, so that has dramatically changed the way people live in many countries. They're able to live longer and healthier lives because of family planning, and it also has a positive multiplier effect on development because of the increased savings that are possible within the family and the investment in economic growth that that brings about."
“能够选择孩子的数量和何时开始要孩子，这就大大改变了许多国家人们的生活方式。由于实行计划生育，他们可以活得更久更健康，由于有了家庭可能增加的储蓄以及经济发展带来的投资，这将对发展产生乘数效应。”

Sub-Saharan Africa has some of the biggest unmet needs for family planning services. The report says modern contraceptives are not widely available in countries such as Chad and Niger. But Ms. Stewart says providing contraceptives in developing countries is not enough. There are social, political and legal barriers that prevent access to birth control. In many cultures, women are encouraged to have large families and to avoid or limit the use of contraceptives.
撒哈拉以南非洲地区在满足计划生育服务方面的缺口最大。报道称诸如乍得和尼日尔这样的国家没有广泛使用现代避孕法。但斯图尔特称，为发展中国家提供避孕手段还不够。这些国家存在着社会、政治和法律障碍，阻碍生育控制的实施。在很多文化中，妇女被鼓励建立大家庭，避免使用避孕手段。

The Population Fund says family planning helps countries reduce poverty. A recent study said Nigeria's economy would grow by at least thirty billion dollars if the fertility rate fell by just one child per woman in the next twenty years.
人口基金称计划生育可以帮助国家减少贫困，最近的研究称尼日利亚的经济将至少增加300亿美元，前提是未来20年间生育率下降到一位妇女只生一个孩子。

Ms. Stewart says family planning is a global challenge.
斯图尔特说计划生育是项全球性挑战。

"There are unmet needs for family planning in every country in the world. And a lot of that has to do with poor, disadvantaged, marginalized groups in many countries who don't have access to the kinds of services and products that they need in order to plan their own families, space their children and prevent unintended pregnancies."
“全世界各个国家都未完全实行计划生育，这在很大程度上与许多国家的贫困、弱势和边缘群体有关，他们无法得到有关的用于计划家庭规模的服务和产品，也无法防止意外怀孕。”

She says studies show that abortion rates fall in countries where people have access to modern methods of family planning.
她说研究表明，人们享有现代计划生育措施的国家的流产率有所下降。