Global Leadership Meeting on Population Dynamics in the Context of the Post-2015 Development Agenda, 12-13 March 2013

The Thematic Consultation Global Leadership Meeting on Population Dynamics was convened from 12-13 March 2013 in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Attended by over 100 participants including over 50 government representatives, it focused on four mega-trends: high fertility and population growth; low fertility and population aging; migration and human mobility; and urbanization.

Six working sessions were held: On the first day, there were sessions on high fertility, population growth and large youth populations; and international migration and human mobility. On the second day, there were sessions on urbanization, cities and sustainable development; population aging and population decline; and the way forward for national, regional and global level action.

A small group, which was coordinated by the governments of Bangladesh and Switzerland, discussed and reach consensus on the meeting’s outcome document, the Dhaka Declaration on the Global Leadership Meeting on Population Dynamics in the context of the Post- 2015 Development Agenda. It was adopted in the closing session of the meeting.

As reported by the IISD Reporting Services, a “number of issues representing convergence across the four mega-themes emerged during the discussions over
the two days, including: putting humans at the center of
the development agenda and the discussion on population dynamics; the need for public-private partnerships, and inter- ministerial and cross-sectoral collaboration; and support for rights-based and gender-responsive approaches to address the challenges and opportunities associated with population dynamics.” The need for a paradigm shift to link population dynamics to other aspects of the post-2015 agenda, such as global health and inequalities, moreover, was noted and many concurred with the notion that “demographics is not destiny,” and the importance of equal access to resources as being critical for development. Integrating unfinished elements of the MDGs into the post-2015 development agenda and for the SDGs to build on the MDGs was also called for.

In addition to discussions on referencing South- South and North-South concerns,  areas of divergence also emerged, such as whether there should be a stand-alone goal on population dynamics, or whether population should be addressed as a cross-cutting development issue, with implications for goals and indicators in a number of areas.

A comprehensive report summarizing all sessions of the meeting can be found on the IISD Reporting Services website.