THE FERTILITY TRANSITION IN CUBA AND THE FEDERAL-REPUBLIC OF KOREA - THE IMPACT OF ORGANIZED FAMILY-PLANNING

South Korea and Cuba are dissimilar in religion, economy, culture and attitudes toward premarital sexual relations. In 1960, Korea institute d a national family planning programme to combat rapid population grow th. Cuba explicitly rejected Malthusian policies, but made family plan ning universally available in 1974 in response to health needs. Both c ountries have undergone rapid fertility declines and today have less t han replacement level fertility. Both countries have also used a simil ar mixture of methods, including a high prevalence of female sterilisa tion. Abortion has played a major role in the fertility decline of bot h countries, rising in the first half of the fertility transition and then falling, although remaining a significant variable in the second half. It is concluded that access to contraception, voluntary sterilis ation, and safe abortion has a direct impact on fertility and has been associated with a rapid fall in family size in two very different cou ntries.