and affordable are not available to them. According to the State of World Population in 1994, from the U.N. Fund for Population Activities, if their ummet needs were met for couples in these situations, the prevalence rate of family planning would be expected to rise from the current rate of 55% (estimated 53% by U.N. Population Division) to 67%. The prevalence rate of contraceptions for developed countries is currently 71%, and therefore 67% means that its rate is very close to the rate of developed countries. If it is achieved in the near future and the high practice rate is kept to be continued, then the birth rate of developing countries is estimated to decline ultimately to a level close to developed countries, which is at a population replacement level.
By the way, in Africa, it is reported that unmet needs are not so great. According to the result of the Demographic Health Survey given recently in 20 countries of Sub-Saharan African countries, only an average of 44% of the couples (including practicing couples) want to practice family planning. This is quite low compared to average of 67% in 8 countries in Asia, excluding East Asia. Unmet needs in Africa's Sub-Saharan countries is 29% which is high by itself. However, even if those needs were met, more than a half of the couples are ignorant on family planning and they are not enthusiastic about practicing it. Nevertheless, in order to achieve a birth rate of 3.34 by the year 2020 and 2.10 by 2040 in Africa, as the U.N. medium-variant projections, it seems necessary not only to work on the supply side to meet their unmet needs, but also to work on the demand side as spreading family planning on a wider range in a well organized manner.
4. Long-range World Population Projection
The U.N. Population Division prepared long-range world population projections from 1990 to 2150 for each major region and large countries (China & India) (see table 4). These projections were made based on 1990 world population prospects which was published prior to those in tables 1 and 2.
