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Algeria
Family Planning
Before 1980 Algeria lacked an official birth control program,
in contrast to other Arab countries, nearly all of which had some
kind of family planning program or a policy of limiting population.
To a large extent, this situation reflected the conviction that
Algeria was not overpopulated, given the vast empty expanse of
the Sahara and the High Plateaus and the scattered population
clusters even in the Tell. There was also a desire to make up
the alleged 1.5 million population loss in the War of Independence
and the conviction of many parents that their well-being lay in
producing as many children as possible, a common view held by
peasants. Despite an employment problem arising from overpopulation,
Boumediene favored economic growth over birth control as the solution
to overpopulation and unemployment. His policy received the blessing
of the Islamic religious establishment.
At 1980 growth rates, Algeria's population would have risen from
18.3 million to more than 35 million by the year 2000. Faced with
a demographic explosion that threatened to inhibit further social
and economic development, if not obliterate what had been achieved,
the Bendjedid government reversed directions and devised a cautious
family planning policy that took into account Islamic sensitivities.
The new program referred to "birth spacing" rather than "birth
control" and emphasized the improvement in the health of the mother
and children and the well-being of the family that would occur
if births were spaced and families were smaller. The goal was
voluntary participation on the part of women of childbearing age.
The program also aimed at creating the infrastructure within the
Ministry of Public Health that would enable it to provide birth
control services, educate the population about family planning,
and conduct research on the relationship between population growth
and economic development.
To implement the program, Maternal and Infant Protection Centers
(PMICS) were established to dispense advice and contraceptives.
In 1980 there were about 260 centers. An educational campaign
was also launched, using television, billboards, and handbills
to point out the consequences of unrestrained demographic growth
and to advertise the services of the PMICS. A major effort was
made to reconcile family planning with the dictates of religion.
Religious scholars found birth spacing and the use of contraceptives
compatible with Islam as long as participation was voluntary and
practices such as abortion and sterilization were proscribed.
By the mid-1980s, family planning had begun to meet with some
success. The number of PMICS had risen to 300, and the demand
for information about the program reportedly outstripped supply
in some areas. It was estimated that about 10 percent of the population
of childbearing age was using some form of contraception, and
the government was increasing its publicity to encourage still
greater participation.
In 1986 the government created the National Committee on Population.
Its charter promoted a balance between social and economic development
needs on the one hand, and population growth on the other. Three
years later, in 1989, the United Nations Fund for Population Activities
(UNFPA) launched a US$8 million program to support maternal and
child health care, help create a center for the production of
oral contraceptives, and develop an effective education system
to inform the general population on the use of contraceptives.
The UNFPA program also supported demographic research and advised
the government on population strategies and policies. In 1989
it was estimated that 35 percent of Algerian women of childbearing
age used some form of contraception. This percentage would account
in part for the sharp drop in population growth from 3.1 percent
in the mid-1980s to 2.8 percent in 1990.
Data as of December 1993
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